| Abstract: | Dioscorea japonica Thunb., traditionally used in folk medicine in Korea for the treatment of hyperglycemia, is known to have biological activity. However, few analytical methods suitable for rapid assessment of constituents of D. japonica rhizomes have been reported. A high-performance liquid chromatography method coupled with variable wavelength ultraviolet detection was developed for the determination of eight constituents of D. japonica rhizome. The separation was performed efficiently on a hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography column by gradient elution with acetonitrile and water. Calibration curves showed excellent linear regression correlation levels (R 2 > 0.9999) within the range of tested concentrations. Intra- and inter-day variations, evaluated by determining relative standard deviations, were below 1.71%. Constituent recovery rates were 93.37–104.24% with relative standard deviations of 0.55–1.98% for spiked D. japonica samples. The developed method was suitable for the qualitative and quantitative determination of the major components in D. japonica. |
