Centella asiatica extract (Gotu kola)

Centella asiatica (L.) Urb. — gotu kola, Indian pennywort, Mandukaparni in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India — is a creeping herb of wet ground harvested across Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and Sri Lanka. Thovek's standard grade is a hydro-alcoholic extract of the dried aerial parts standardised to 10% asiaticosides by HPLC. The characteristic constituents are pentacyclic triterpenes in two families: the glycosides asiaticoside (C48H78O19, CAS 16830-15-2) and madecassoside (CAS 34540-22-2), and their genins asiatic acid (C30H48O5, MW 488.70, CAS 464-92-6) and madecassic acid (CAS 18449-41-7). Which of the four your specification counts is the single most important thing to fix at enquiry, because a 10% asiaticoside figure and a 10% total-triterpene figure describe quite different materials. The grade landscape is wider than for most botanicals, and each grade has its own buyer. Ten percent asiaticosides by HPLC is the volume nutraceutical grade. Twenty and forty percent total triterpenes suit lower-fill capsules and beauty-from-within formats. Eighty percent total triterpenoid glycosides is the concentrated cosmetic and premium-supplement grade. A titrated composition of the TECA/TTFCA type — asiaticoside about 40% with asiatic acid and madecassic acid about 30% each — is made to order where a fixed marker ratio is specified. A native 10:1 water extract is also available where a whole-herb profile rather than a marker assay is wanted. One procurement trap is worth flagging: in parts of India, Centella asiatica is sold under the vernacular name Brahmi, which is also and more usually applied to Bacopa monnieri. Purchase orders that name only 'Brahmi extract' regularly deliver the wrong plant. Always specify the binomial and the marker. The material is vegan and vegetarian with no milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, gluten or tree-nut content, non-GMO, and made without bovine, porcine or marine inputs. Cosmetic-channel buyers should request the INCI-labelled documentation set (Centella Asiatica Extract) alongside the food-grade CoA. Thovek makes no therapeutic or cosmetic performance claim; substantiation and label compliance rest with the buyer in the destination market.