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Analysis of Piperine in Black Pepper by High Performance Liquid

Chromatography

Article in Journal of Nepal Chemical Society · August 2020

DOI: 10.3126/jncs.v41i1.30492

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J N CS
Journal of Nepal Chemical Society June 2020, Vol. 41, No. 1, 80-86
ISSN: 2091-0304 (print)
DOI:.https://doi.org/10.3126/jncs.v41i1.30492 ..
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Analysis of Piperine in Black Pepper by High Performance Liquid

Chromatography
Suraj Shrestha*1, Nibedita Chaudhary1, Rajkumari Sah1, Neera Malakar1
1
National Food & Feed Reference Laboratory, Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Kathmandu, Nepal
*Corresponding E-mail: sthasuraz4@gmail.com

(Received: March 15, 2020; Revised: May 30, 2020 & Accepted: June 12, 2020)

Abstract
Piperine is the most important alkaloid present in the black pepper. A high performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC) method proposed by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was optimized and
validated for quantitative determination of piperine in black pepper. The method was successfully validated for
linearity, range, accuracy, precision, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, and measurement uncertainty. The
validated method was used for the analysis of nine black pepper samples collected from the local supermarket
of Kathmandu. The piperine content of the samples collected from various areas of Kathmandu, Nepal were
found in the range of 2.33 % to 3.34% with an average of 2.75 % and a standard deviation of 0.31%. This
simple, precise, and accurate method can be used for routine analysis of piperine content in black pepper for
quality control purposes.
Keywords: Black pepper, piperine, HPLC, method validation
Introduction lung carcinogenesis by protecting the glycoprotein
Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is used as spices levels in serum and tissues in Swiss albino mice [7].
in many countries. It has been ranked at a supreme It is effective in prostate cancer [8]. Similarly, it has
position among the spices due to its characteristic also been shown to protect against high-fat induced
pungency and flavor [1]. It is also known as the king oxidative stress to cells [9]. Although piperine has
of spices based on the volume of international trade diverse therapeutic properties, its use as a medicine is
[2]. The characteristic pungent smell of black pepper limited due to poor solubility in water (40 mg/L at 18
is due to the presence of alkaloid, piperine. It is the °C) [10]. Thus recent studies focus on the formulation
most abundant and most important alkaloid present of more water soluble nano particle based piperine for
in black pepper. In 1821, Oerstedt H Schweigers the treatment of various diseases [11]. The picture of
isolated piperine from ground black pepper and also black pepper and its major constituent piperine is as
found that the pungency of black pepper is due to shown in Figure 1.
piperine [3]. Black pepper was used traditionally not The quality of black pepper is correlated with the
only for seasoning of foods but for other medicinal piperine content in it. The piperine content varies
purposes also. It has been traditionally used for from pepper to pepper and amount can be influenced
cholera, dyspepsia, gastric ailments, and diarrhea [4]. by many factors such as climate, growing conditions,
Similarly, it exhibits various physiological properties and its place of origin. The amount of piperine varies
including carminative, diaphoretic, diuretic, lipolytic, significantly from 1.6% to 9% in black pepper [12,13].
etc. [5]. Nowadays, more research is focused on the
The Codex Alimentarius has established the minimum
medicinal properties of piperine. It has beenshown
level of piperine in black pepper in CXS 326-2017,
antimutagenic effects in reducing the DNA damages
where the black peppers are classified into grade I,
caused by carcinogens in somatic and germ cells [6],
grade II, and grade III. The minimum piperine content
play an important role against benzo(a)pyrene induced
for I, II and III grade black peppers are 3.5%, 3.0%,
©Nepal Chemical Society 80 https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JNCS
Journal of Nepal Chemical Society, June 2020, Vol. 41, No. 1 S. Shrestha et. al., 2020

Materials and Methods

Chemicals and reagents
All chemical reagents used for analysis were
analytical grade. The chemicals include ethanol, 96 %
(V/V), acetonitrile (HPLC grade) and acetic acid (1%
acetic acid solution in water). HPLC grade water was
prepared from Milli Q system. Traceable standard
for piperine was purchased from Sigma Aldrich,
Germany.
Instrumentation and chromatographic conditions
Identification and quantification of thepiperine was
performed with Shimadzu prominence HPLC system
equipped with CBM 20 alite controller, DGU-20
A5 prominence online degasser, LC-20AD binary
pumps, SIL-20A prominence auto sampler, CTO-20
Figure 1: Black pepper and structure of piperine
prominence column oven and SPD-20A prominence
and 2.0% on dry weight basis respectively [14]. Food UV-Vis detector (Shimadzu Co., Kyoto, Japan). The
Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) does chromatographic separation was performed in the
not classify black pepper into different classes but the reversed phase C18 analytical column of dimension
piperine content for all types of black pepper samples 4.6*150 mm and 5 µm particle size. Isocratic elution
should not be less than 4.0% on dry weight basis [15]. containing 48% of acetonitrile and 52% of 1% acetic
However, in Nepal, the standard for piperine content acid in water was used as mobile phase for the
in black pepper has not been set and the method for analysis. The constant flow rate of 1 mL/min was
analysis of piperine in black pepper has not been maintained throughout the run. Column was kept in
established yet. the column oven maintained at a constant temperature
of 40 °C. 10 µL of both standards and samples were
There are various analytical methods available for
injected into the system and piperine peak was
analysis of piperine in black pepper such as HPTLC
monitored at 343 nm. The run time was set to 25 min,
[16,17], UV-Vis Spectroscopy [18,19] GC-FID [20]
which may vary from column to column as well as
and HPLC [21,22]. In this study, a simple precise chromatographic conditions.
and accurate HPLC method proposed by ISO was
used for analysis [23] after validation. Critical Standard solution preparation
method parameters such as linearity, range, limit Stock solution of 1000 ppm (mg/L) of piperine was
of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ), prepared by dissolving 10 mg standard in to 10 mL
class-A volumetric flask with ethanol. The stock
accuracy, precision and measurement uncertainty
solution was kept in a refrigerator. From this stock
were evaluated to check whether the method is fit
standard solution, five calibration standard solutions
for routine analysis of piperine by a quality control
from 1 ppm to 200 ppm were prepared by appropriate
laboratory or not.
dilution with diluent solvent (a mixture of 52 parts
The objectives of this study were to establish and volumes of 1% acetic acid in water solution and
validate the HPLC method for routine analysis of 48 parts volumes of acetonitrile). Due to the light
piperine in black pepper as well as to find the baseline sensitivity of piperine, all the standard solutions were
status of piperine content in black peppers available prepared in amber colored glasswares.
in Nepali market. This baseline data would be helpful Sample collection and preparation
for setting the standard of piperine in black pepper by Nine samples of black peppers were collected
the government of Nepal. from different supermarkets located at Anamnagar,
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Journal of Nepal Chemical Society, June 2020, Vol. 41, No. 1 S. Shrestha et. al., 2020

Kamalpokhari, Pulchowk, Asan area of Kathmandu, 2.E+07

Nepal. Collected samples were finely ground in a 1.E+07

mixture grinder and the powder was passed through 1.E+07

1.E+07
500 µm sieve. 0.5 g to 1 g powder sample was weighed

Peak Area
8.E+06
in a butter paper and transferred to a 250 mL round y= 74697x - 15599
6.E+06 R² = 0.9996
bottom flask fitted with a reflux condenser. 50 mL 4.E+06
ethanol was added, swirl and mixture was refluxed 2.E+06
for 3 hours then it was cooled to room temperature. 0.E+00
The solution was filtered and collected in a 100 mL 0 50 100 150 200 250
Concentration (ppm)
volumetric flask. Round bottom flask and filter paper Figure 2: Calibration curve of piperine
were rinsed with successive portions of ethanol into
the same volumetric flask. Volume was made up to The percentage relative standard deviation (%
the mark with more ethanol. The flask was shaken RSD) was found to be 0.126% only, which indicates
thoroughly and 4 mL solution was transferred into that there is no significant drift of retention time of
a 10 mL volumetric flask and volume was made up piperine.
to the mark with the diluent solvent. The flask was The method range was from 0.10% (corresponding to
shaken thoroughly and an appropriate amount of 2 ppm vial concentration, dilution around 500 times)
liquid was transferred via disposable syringe into an to 10% (corresponding to 200 ppm vial concentration,
HPLC vial after passing through a 0.45 µm syringe dilution around 500 times).
membrane filter. The vial was kept into the auto
sampler of HPLC for analysis. Table1: Retention time (RT) and area of standard solution
Retention
Standard
Method validation Name
conc. (ppm)
time (min) Area
This study was based on the standard ISO method with 1 ppm std 1 1 11.24 67,235
some minor modifications. So as per the requirement
1 ppm std 2 1 11.258 67,338
of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 [24], method validation was
performed before routine analysis to ensure that it can 5 ppm std 1 5 11.247 340,569
achieve the required performance. During method 5 ppm std 2 5 11.265 340,411
validation various validation parameters such as 25 ppm std 1 25 11.239 1,765,767
linearity, range, accuracy, precision, limit of detection
25 ppm std 2 25 11.269 1,764,899
(LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ) and measurement
uncertainty (MU) were calculated. 100 ppm std 1 100 11.241 7,762,476
100 ppm std 2 100 11.264 7,483,803
Results and Discussion
200 ppm std 1 200 11.258 14,806,722
Method validation
Following method validation parameters were 200 ppm std 2 200 11.281 14,894,411

investigated in this study. Average 11.2562

Linearity and range Standard deviation 0.014133
The calibration curve was plotted between peak % Relative standard deviation 0.126
areas of different concentrations versus their nominal (%RSD)
concentrations, which is shown in figure 2. Linearity Precision
of method was tested by injecting 5 different Precision was evaluated by repeatability. Six
concentrations in duplicate, ranging from 1 ppm to replicates of the same black pepper samples were
200 ppm. The correlation coefficient (r2) was more prepared and analyzed separately. The obtained values
than 0.999. Retention times (RT) and areas of all are summarized in table 2. The average piperine
peaks of standards are shown in table 1. content and percentage relative standard deviation (%
RSD) values were determined. The average value of
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Journal of Nepal Chemical Society, June 2020, Vol. 41, No. 1 S. Shrestha et. al., 2020

Table 2: Precision (as repeatability) of the method

Wt. Vol. make Aliquot Final Conc. from Piperine

Name
taken (g) up (mL) extract (mL) vol. (mL) HPLC (ppm) conc. (%)
Repeatability-1 0.5190 100 4 10 54.615 2.63
Repeatability-2 0.5135 100 4 10 52.839 2.57
Repeatability-3 0.5172 100 4 10 58.421 2.82
Repeatability-4 0.5191 100 4 10 55.697 2.68
Repeatability-5 0.5196 100 4 10 54.809 2.64
Repeatability-6 0.5187 100 4 10 55.833 2.69
Average 2.67
Standard deviation 0.09
Percentage relative standard deviation (% RSD) 3.19

piperine in six replicates was found to be 2.67% while for better representation of method. The sample
percentage relative standard deviation (% RSD) was solutions were diluted, due to the unavailability of
found to be 3.19%, indicating good precision of the blank samples, and were injected to estimate LOD
method. and LOQ level. Signal to noise ratio of 3 and 10 were
Accuracy used for LOD and LOQ determination respectively.
The accuracy of the method was evaluated by recovery The method LOD was found to 0.04% while method
studies. Since piperine is an inherent constituent of LOQ was found to be 0.1%.
peppers, a blank sample was not available. Thus, Measurement uncertainty (MU)
recovery check was performed by spiking a known
The measurement of uncertainty was calculated as
amount of standard piperine solution in the already
per ISO GUM modeling approach [25-27], where
analyzed pepper sample. The obtained values are
every steps of the method were considered and major
summarized in table 3. Triplicate spiking was
performed and the average recovery was calculated. uncertainty contributors were identified. The standard
The recovery of the method was found to be 100% with uncertainty of every contributor was calculated and
percentage relative standard deviation(% RSD) of 6.7%. summed as per the law of propagation of uncertainty
Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of to give combined standard uncertainty. The combined
quantitation (LOQ) standard uncertainty was finally expressed as
In this study, method limit of detection and method expanded uncertainty at 95% confidence level. The
limit of quantitation were calculated instead of evaluated expanded uncertainty was ±0.18% and it is
instrumental limit of detection and limit of quantitation expressed as (2.67±0.18)% at 95% confidence level.
Table 3: Accuracy (as recovery) of the method

Obtained conc. Conc. of spiked Theoretical conc. of

Name % Recovery
of piperine (%) piperine (%) piperine after spiking (%)
Sample 2.67 - -
Sample spiked-1 3.00 0.14 2.82 106
Sample spiked-2 2.62 0.15 2.82 93
Sample spiked-3 2.83 0.14 2.82 101
Average 100
Standard deviation   6.7
Percentage relative standard deviation (% RSD) 6.7

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Journal of Nepal Chemical Society, June 2020, Vol. 41, No. 1 S. Shrestha et. al., 2020

Table 4: Piperine content in black pepper samples

4
3.34
3.5 3.11
2.76 2.83
3 2.77
2.5 2.33 2.63 2.52
2.5
% Piperine

2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample
PR-1 PR-2 PR-3 PR-4 PR-5 PR-6 PR-7 PR-8 PR-9
Sample Name

Sample analysis
After successful establishment and validation of the
method, nine samples were analyzed. The amount
of piperine in each sample is shown in table 4. The
Relative Intensity

piperine contents of the samples were found in the

range of 2.33% to 3.34% with an average of 2.75%
and standard deviation of 0.31%. Chromatograms of a
standard and sample were shown in figures 3a and 3b.
All the method validation parameters are satisfactory
to be used as a routine method for aquality control
laboratory. The measurement uncertainty value helps Time (min)

in the statement of conformity as per the specifications Figure 3b: Chromatogram of sample piperine
of the product. The obtained values of piperine show
However, these values were found to be lower than
that its content in the black pepper samples collected
the minimum level of piperine set by FSSAI (piperine
from different supermarkets of Kathmandu, Nepal
content minimum 4%). It is one of the expensive
fall in the grade II (piperine content minimum 3%)
spices, its stringent quality control is desirable for the
and grade III (piperine content minimum 2%) of
value of money paid by the customer.
black pepper as classified in Codex Alimentarius.
In Nepal, black peppers are produced in a small
mV
1000 Detector A 343nm amount while a large amount of it is imported from
Piperine/11.258

900 India. This validated method can be used to control

800
the import of black pepper samples with the required
minimum level of piperine. This will facilitate the
700
Relative Intensity

600

500
import, export of black peppers. Similarly, data of
400 piperine generated in this study can be used as baseline
300 data for piperine content in black peppers available in
200 the Nepali market during setting the minimum level
100
of piperine in black pepper by the government of
Nepal. Further research involving a large number of
0

0.0 5.0 10.0

Time (min)
15.0 20.0
black pepper samples are necessary for the status of
Figure 3a: Chromatogram of piperine standard (200 ppm) piperine in black pepper samples available in Nepal.

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Journal of Nepal Chemical Society, June 2020, Vol. 41, No. 1 S. Shrestha et. al., 2020

Conclusion C induced sister chromatid exchanges and

chromosomal aberrations in mice, Nature and
A simple precise and accurate HPLC method is
Science, 2009, 7, 72–78.
successfully established and validated for piperine
content in black pepper. All the tested method 7. K. Selvendiran, J. Prince Vijeya Singh, and D.
Sakthisekaran, In vivo effect of piperine on
validation parameters are satisfactory. Nine black
serum and tissue glycoprotein levels in benzo(a)
pepper samples collected from different places of
pyrene induced lung carcinogenesis in Swiss
Kathmandu, Nepal were analyzed with this method
albino mice, Pulmonary Pharmacology and
successfully and this method can be used for routine
Therapeutics, 2006, 19, 107–111. (DOI: 10.1016/j.
analysis of black pepper for quality control purposes.
pupt.2005.04.002).
Acknowledgments 8. A. Samykutty, A.V. Shetty, G. Dakshinamoorthy,
The authors would like to thank Department of Food M. M. Bartik, G. L. Johnson, B. Webb, G.
Technology & Quality Control, Nepal and Nepal Zheng, A. Chen, R. Kalyanasundaram, and G.
Government for financial support to conduct this Munirathinam, Piperine, a bioactive component
research. of pepper spice exerts therapeutic effects on
androgen dependent and androgen independent
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