Quality evaluation of Rhizoma Belamcandae (Belamcanda chinensis (L.) DC.) by using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector and mass spectrometry

A high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector and mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS) method was developed to evaluate the quality of Rhizoma Belamcandae (Belamcanda chinensis (L.) DC.) through establishing chromatographic fingerprint and simultaneous determination of seven phenolic compounds. The analysis was achieved on an Alltima C(18) analytical column (250 mm x 4.6 mm i.d. 5 microm) using linear gradient elution of acetonitrile-0.1% trifluoroacetic acid. The correlation coefficients of similarity were determined from the HPLC fingerprints, and they shared a close similarity. By using an online APCI-MS/MS, twenty phenols were identified. In addition, seven of these phenols including mangiferin, 7-O-methylmangiferin, tectoridin, resveratrol, tectorigenin, irigenin and irisflorentin were quantified by the validated HPLC-DAD method. These phenols are considered to be major constituents in Rhizoma Belamcandae, and are generally regarded as the index for quality assessment of this herb. This developed method by having a combination of chromatographic fingerprint and quantification analysis could be applied to the quality control of Rhizoma Belamcandae.     

Development of a method using high‐performance liquid chromatographic fingerprint and multi‐ingredients quantitative analysis for the quality control of Yangxinshi Pian

A simple and reliable method of high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection method was developed for fingerprint analysis and simultaneous determination of six compounds including puerarin, salvianolic acid B, berberine hydrochloride, palmatine chloride, dehydrocorydaline, and icariin in the Chinese medicine preparation Yangxinshi Pian. The separation was performed on an Agilent Eclipse XDB‐C₁₈ reserved‐phase column (250 mm × 4.6mm I.D., 5 μm) using gradient elution with 50 mmol/L monopotassium phosphate aqueous solution and methanol as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The column operating temperature was set at 30°C, and the detection wavelength was 280 nm. The method was validated by linearity, precision, accuracy, stability, and recovery. For fingerprint analysis, 25 peaks were selected as the common peaks, and four kinds of similarities including cosine similarity (S), ratio of similarity (S′), projection content similarity (C), and content similarity (P) were applied to evaluate the quality consistency of different batches of Yangxinshi Pian. The results showed that the developed method was an efficient tool for quality evaluation of Yangxinshi Pian.     

Quality evaluation of Shenmaidihuang Pills based on the chromatographic fingerprints and simultaneous determination of seven bioactive constituents

In this study, we aimed to establish a comprehensive and practical quality evaluation system for Shenmaidihuang pills. A simple and reliable high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection method was developed both for fingerprint analysis and quantitative determination. In fingerprint analysis, relative retention time and relative peak area were used to identify the common peaks in 18 samples for investigation. Twenty one peaks were selected as the common peaks to evaluate the similarities of 18 Shenmaidihuang pills samples with different manufacture dates. Furthermore, similarity analysis was applied to evaluate the similarity of samples. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were also performed to evaluate the variation of Shenmaidihuang pills. In quantitative analysis, linear regressions, injection precisions, recovery, repeatability and sample stability were all tested and good results were obtained to simultaneously determine the seven identified compounds, namely, 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural, morroniside, loganin, paeonol, paeoniflorin, psoralen, isopsoralen in Shenmaidihuang pills. The contents of some analytes in different batches of samples indicated significant difference, especially for 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural. So, it was concluded that the chromatographic fingerprint method obtained by high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection associated with multiple compounds determination is a powerful and meaningful tool to comprehensively conduct the quality control of Shenmaidihuang pills.     

Quantitative analysis and chromatographic fingerprinting of the semen zizyphi spinosae by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detector

A simple and sensitive method was developed and validated for fingerprint analysis of semen zizyphi spinosae (SZS) and simultaneous determination of six flavonoids in SZS by ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled to diode‐array detector (DAD). The analysis was performed on an Agilent ZORBAX Eclipse Plus C18 RRHD column. The column was maintained at 40°C and the eluents were monitored with DAD at 270 nm. A gradient elution of acetonitrile and water containing 20 mM sodium dihydrogen phosphate was used. The solvent flow rate was 0.4 mL/min. The method was validated. Standard calibration curves showed good linear behaviors (r=1.000) in the range of 0.33–201.00 μg/mL. Acceptable intra‐day precision (RSD<1.9%), inter‐day precision (RSD<4.0%), repeatability (RSD<4.1%) and recovery in the range of 97.4–104% were obtained. The validated method was successfully applied to obtain the chromatographic fingerprints and the contents of six flavonoids in 23 samples of SZS. The principal component analysis (PCA) had been applied for the chromatographic fingerprint analysis and quantitative analysis of six flavonoids to classify and discriminate the 23 samples of SZS. These results demonstrated that the method was very suitable in the analysis and quality control of SZS.     

Two‐way and three‐way approaches to ultra high performance liquid chromatography–photodiode array dataset for the quantitative resolution of a two‐component mixture containing ciprofloxacin and ornidazole

Two‐way and three‐way calibration models were applied to ultra high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array data with coeluted peaks in the same wavelength and time regions for the simultaneous quantitation of ciprofloxacin and ornidazole in tablets. The chromatographic data cube (tensor) was obtained by recording chromatographic spectra of the standard and sample solutions containing ciprofloxacin and ornidazole with sulfadiazine as an internal standard as a function of time and wavelength. Parallel factor analysis and trilinear partial least squares were used as three‐way calibrations for the decomposition of the tensor, whereas three‐way unfolded partial least squares was applied as a two‐way calibration to the unfolded dataset obtained from the data array of ultra high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. The validity and ability of two‐way and three‐way analysis methods were tested by analyzing validation samples: synthetic mixture, interday and intraday samples, and standard addition samples. Results obtained from two‐way and three‐way calibrations were compared to those provided by traditional ultra high performance liquid chromatography. The proposed methods, parallel factor analysis, trilinear partial least squares, unfolded partial least squares, and traditional ultra high performance liquid chromatography were successfully applied to the quantitative estimation of the solid dosage form containing ciprofloxacin and ornidazole.     

高效液相色谱法同时测定多维元素片中9种水溶性维生素

采用更简便的流动相体系,建立了高效液相色谱法同时测定多维元素片中9种水溶性维生素的快速分析方法。以酸水解与离心的方法处理样品,用C8柱分离,流动相A为0.1%三氟乙酸的水溶液,B为甲醇,梯度洗脱,二极管阵列检测器(DAD)检测。28min内实现了9种水溶性维生素的同时分离测定。各维生素线性关系、精密度、回收率均良好。并使用美国国家标准技术研究院(NIST)的SRM3280多维元素片标准物质对方法进行了确认,运用此法测定了市售多维元素片中的水溶性维生素含量。该法可作为维生素片剂中水溶性维生素分离测定的质控方法。     

Simultaneous chemical fingerprinting and quantitative analysis of crude and processed Radix Scrophulariae from different locations in China by HPLC

A validated liquid chromatography method was first developed to evaluate the quality of crude and processed Radix Scrophulariae extracts through establishing chromatographic fingerprint and simultaneous determination of five bioactive compounds, namely 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), acteoside, angroside C, harpagoside and cinnamic acid. The chromatographic were separated on an Agilent Zorbax Extend C(18) column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) and detected by diode array detector (DAD). Mobile phase was composed of (A) aqueous phosphoric acid (0.03%, v/v) and (B) acetonitrile using a gradient elution. Analytes were performed at 30 °C with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and UV detection at 280 nm. All calibration curves showed good linear regression (r(2) ≥0.9996) within the tested ranges, and the recovery of the method was in the range of 98.12-103.38%, with RSD values ranging from 0.6 to 2.8%. In addition, the contents of those five bioactive compounds in crude and processed Radix Scrophulariae prepared by different locations of China were determined to establish the effectiveness of the method. The results demonstrate that the developed method is accurate and reproducible and could be readily utilized as a suitable quality control method for the quantification of Radix Scrophulariae.     

Chemotaxonomic study of Chrysobalanus icaco Linnaeus (Chrysobalanaceae) using ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection fingerprint in combination with multivariate analysis

We investigated a strategy for the chemotaxonomy study of Chrysobalanus icaco Linnaeus (Chrysobalanaceae) based on ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection fingerprint in combination with multivariate analysis. Two models using principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis were developed, and the samples could be successfully classified into two classes: Class 1 (red morphotype) and Class 2 (white and black morphotypes). Furthermore, ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry was used to identify the main compounds responsible for class separation. The partial least squares discriminant analysis model accurately classified the C. icaco samples using an external validation subset with prediction ability of 100% and revealed the existence of two chemotypes. The most important finding obtained in this study is that the three morphotypes distinguished by the mature fruit color (white, red, and black) are not all phytoequivalent to each other.     

Simultaneous Determination of Four Phenolic Compounds and Tanshinone IIA in Guanxintong Tablets by LC Using Combined Electrochemical Detection and DAD

A rapid, sensitive and accurate method for the simultaneous separation and determination of four phenolic compounds, including protocatechuic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde, caffeic acid and ferulic acid, and tanshinone IIA in Guanxintong tablets by high performance liquid chromatography using combined electrochemical detection with diode array detection (HPLC-ECD-DAD) has been established. The detection and quantification limits of four phenolic compounds with ECD were 7–28 fold greater than those obtained with DAD. High sensitivity was achieved using DAD for the detection of tanshinone IIA, which is an electrochemically inactive compound. All calibration curves showed good linearity (r ≥ 0.9996) within the test ranges. The recoveries ranged from 96.5% to 101.7%. Combining ECD with DAD can not only exert their respective advantages, but also widen its applications to detect various analytes in low level directly. This approach can be used to control the quality of Guanxintong tablets.     

Simultaneous chemical fingerprint and quantitative analysis of Ginkgo biloba extract by HPLC–DAD

A reverse-phase liquid chromatography method with diode array detection was developed to evaluate the quality of Ginkgo biloba extract through establishing chromatographic fingerprint and simultaneous determination of eight flavonoid compounds, namely rutin, myricetin, quercitrin, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, apigenin, and isorhamnetin. The chromatographic separation was performed on an Agilent SB-C18 column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5.0 μm) with a gradient elution program using a mixture of methanol and 0.1% formic acid (v/v) as mobile phase within 55 min at 360-nm wavelength. The correlation coefficients of similarity for different batches of G. biloba extract from the same manufacturer and G. biloba extract from different manufacturers were determined from the LC fingerprints, and they shared a close similarity. The eight flavonoid compounds showed good regression (R ² > 0.9995) within test ranges, and the recovery of the method was in the range of 94.1–101.4%. In addition, the content of those eight flavonoid compounds in G. biloba extract prepared by different manufacturers of China was determined to establish the effectiveness of the method. The results indicated that the developed method by having a combination of chromatographic fingerprint and quantification analysis could be readily utilized as a quality control method for G. biloba extract and its related traditional Chinese medicinal preparations.     

Fast determination of five components of coumarin,alkaloids and bibenzyls in Dendrobium spp. using pressurized liquid extraction and ultra‐performance liquid chromatography

A fast method for simultaneous determination of five compounds (one coumarin, two alkaloids and two bibenzyls) in Dendrobium spp. using pressurized liquid extraction and ultra‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with photo diode array detection was developed. The separation was performed on an Acquity UPLC BEH C₁₈ column (50 mm×2.1 mm id, 1.7 μm) with gradient elution of phosphate buffer (pH=7.1, 20 mM) and acetonitrile within 6 min. The method was validated for linearity, LOD and LOQ, precision and accuracy. All calibration curves showed good linearity (R²≥0.9999) within test ranges. The overall intra‐ and inter‐day variations (RSDs) of five analytes were less than 2.5%, and the detection recoveries were between 95.6 and 102.3%. The developed method was successfully applied to quantitative analysis of five investigated compounds in different species of Dendrobium. The results showed that there were great variations of their contents, though all these materials were officially used as Chinese herb, Shihu. In addition, the chromatographic fingerprints of Dendrobium spp. were also investigated.     

A rapid method for simultaneous determination of 14 phenolic compounds in Radix Puerariae using microwave-assisted extraction and ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection and time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-DAD-TOF-MS) method was developed for simultaneous determination of 14 phenolic compounds in the root of Pueraria lobata (Wild.) Ohwi and Pueraria thomsonii Benth. Operational conditions of MAE were optimized by central composite design (CCD). The optimized result was 65% ethanol as extraction solvent, 17 mL of extraction volume, 100 °C of extraction temperature and 2 min of hold time. A Zorbax SB C₁₈ (50 mm × 4.6 mm I.D., 1.8 μm) and gradient elution were used during the analysis. The chromatographic peaks of 14 investigated compounds in samples were successfully identified by comparing their retention time, UV spectra and TOF mass data with the reference substances. All calibration curves showed good linearity (r > 0.9997) within the test ranges. The intra-day and inter-day variations were less than 1.77% and 2.88%, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to determine the investigated compounds in 10 samples of Radix Puerariae Lobatae and Radix Puerariae Thomsonii, respectively. The result indicated that MAE and UHPLC-DAD-TOF-MS system might provide a rapid method for the quality control of Radix Puerariae.     

Chemical Fingerprint and Quantitative Analysis of Cirsium setosum by LC

A reverse phase liquid chromatography method with diode array detection was developed to evaluate the quality of Cirsium setosum through establishing chromatographic fingerprint and simultaneous determination of six phenolic compounds, namely chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, rutin, linarin, luteolin and apigenin. The chromatographic separation was performed on an Agilent SB-C₁₈ column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5.0 μm) with a gradient elution program using a mixture of acetonitrile and 0.5% aqueous acetic acid (v/v) as mobile phase within 25 min at 326 nm wavelength. The correlation coefficients of similarity were determined from the LC fingerprints, and they shared a close similarity. The LC with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry experiment was performed to further confirm the identity of phenolic compounds. The six phenolic compounds showed good regression (R ² > 0.9995) within test ranges and the recovery of the method was in the range of 95.8–102.8%. In addition, the content of those six phenolic compounds in C. setosum growing in different locations of China was determined to establish the effectiveness of the method. The results indicated that the developed method by having a combination of chromatographic fingerprint and quantification analysis could be readily utilized as a quality control method for C. setosum and its related traditional Chinese medicinal preparations.     

Chemical fingerprint and quantitative analysis for the quality evaluation of Vitex negundo seeds by reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with hierarchical clustering analysis

A simple and efficient method was developed for the chemical fingerprint analysis and simultaneous determination of four phenylnaphthalene‐type lignans in Vitex negundo seeds using high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. For fingerprint analysis, 13 V. negundo seed samples were collected from different regions in China, and the fingerprint chromatograms were matched by the computer‐aided Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of TCM (Version 2004A). A total of 21 common peaks found in all the chromatograms were used for evaluating the similarity between these samples. Additionally, simultaneous quantification of four major bioactive ingredients was conducted to assess the quality of V. negundo seeds. Our results indicated that the contents of four lignans in V. negundo seeds varied remarkably in herbal samples collected from different regions. Moreover, the hierarchical clustering analysis grouped these 13 samples into three categories, which was consistent with the chemotypes of those chromatograms. The method developed in this study provides a substantial foundation for the establishment of reasonable quality control standards for V. negundo seeds.     

Towards eco‐friendly secondary plant metabolite quantitation: Ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography applied to common vervain (Verbena officinalis L.)

This report presents the first ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography diode array detector based assay for simultaneous determination of iridoid glucosides, flavonoid glucuronides, and phenylpropanoid glycosides in Verbena officinalis (Verbenaceae) extracts. Separation of the key metabolites was achieved in less than 7 min on an Acquity UPC² Torus Diol column using a mobile phase gradient comprising subcritical carbon dioxide and methanol with 0.15% phosphoric acid. Method validation for seven selected marker compounds (hastatoside, verbenalin, apigenin‐7‐O‐glucuronide, luteolin‐7‐O‐glucuronide, apigenin‐7‐O‐diglucuronide, verbascoside, and luteolin‐7‐O‐diglucuronide) confirmed the assay to be sensitive, linear, precise, and accurate. Head‐to‐head comparison to an ultra high performance liquid chromatography comparator assay did prove the high orthogonality of the methods. Quantitative result equivalence was evaluated by Passing‐Bablok‐correlation and Bland‐Altman‐plot analysis. This cross‐validation revealed, that one of the investigated marker compound peaks was contaminated in the ultra high performance liquid chromatography assay by a structurally related congener. Taken together, it was proven that the ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography instrument setup with its orthogonal selectivity is a true alternative to conventional reversed phase liquid chromatography in quantitative secondary metabolite analysis. For regulatory purposes, assay cross‐validation with highly orthogonal methods seems a viable approach to avoid analyte overestimation due to coeluting, analytically indistinguishable contaminants.     

Multi‐constituent determination and fingerprint analysis of Scutellaria indica L. using ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

An ultra‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry method integrating multi‐constituent determination and fingerprint analysis has been established for quality assessment and control of Scutellaria indica L. The optimized method possesses the advantages of speediness, efficiency, and allows multi‐constituents determination and fingerprint analysis in one chromatographic run within 11 min. 36 compounds were detected, and 23 of them were unequivocally identified or tentatively assigned. The established fingerprint method was applied to the analysis of ten S. indica samples from different geographic locations. The quality assessment was achieved by using principal component analysis. The proposed method is useful and reliable for the characterization of multi‐constituents in a complex chemical system and the overall quality assessment of S. indica.     

直观推导式演进特征投影法解析多环芳烃的重叠色谱峰

用高效液相色谱法(HPLC)测定多环芳烃时,因芴、苊和菲,茚(1,2,3-cd)芘和苯并(g,h,i)苝的色谱峰严重重叠而影响测定结果。本研究用高效液相色谱-二极管阵列检测器(DAD)和荧光检测器(FLD)测定多环芳烃,在激发波长λex=230nm,发射波长λem=300～500nm范围内采集重叠峰的HPLC-FLD二维色谱数据,再用直观推导式演进特征投影法(HELP)解析它们的重叠色谱峰,分辨结果令人满意。该方法对重叠组分的分辨下限为0.02mg/L。结果表明,用二维色谱荧光数据解析色谱重叠峰,灵敏度更高,可用于环境样品中多环芳烃的测定。     

Simultaneous determination of potassium guaiacolsulfonate, guaifenesin, diphenhydramine HCl and carbetapentane citrate in syrups by using HPLC-DAD coupled with partial least squares multivariate calibration

A simple and rapid analytical procedure was proposed for the determination of chromatographic peaks by means of partial least squares multivariate calibration (PLS) of high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). The method is exemplified with analysis of quaternary mixtures of potassium guaiacolsulfonate (PG), guaifenesin (GU), diphenhydramine HCI (DP) and carbetapentane citrate (CP) in syrup preparations. In this method, the area does not need to be directly measured and predictions are more accurate. Though the chromatographic and spectral peaks of the analytes were heavily overlapped and interferents coeluted with the compounds studied, good recoveries of analytes could be obtained with HPLC-DAD coupled with PLS calibration. This method was tested by analyzing the synthetic mixture of PG, GU, DP and CP. As a comparison method, a classsical HPLC method was used. The proposed methods were applied to syrups samples containing four drugs and the obtained results were statistically compared with each other. Finally, the main advantage of HPLC-PLS method over the classical HPLC method tried to emphasized as the using of simple mobile phase, shorter analysis time and no use of internal standard and gradient elution.