Simultaneous quantification of twelve active components in Yiqing granule by ultra-performance liquid chromatography: application to quality control study

An ultra‐performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method coupled with photodiode array (PDA) detection has been developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of 12 active components (berberine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, aloe‐emodin, rhein, emodin, chrysophanol, physcion, baicalin, baicalein, wogonoside and wogonin) in Yiqing granule. Optimum separation were achieved on a C₁₈ column (50 × 2.1 mm i.d., 1.7 µm particle) through a 7.5 min gradient delivery of a mixture of A (acetonitrile) and B (0.1% aqueous phosphoric acid containing 1.8 mmol/L sodium dodecyl sulfonate and 10% acetonitrile, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min at 30°C. Because of the different UV characteristics of these components, three detection wavelengths were used for quantitative analysis. All of the analytes showed good linearity (r of >0.999). The method was validated for repeatability, precision, stability, accuracy and selectivity. The validated method was applied to quality control of Yiqing granule from different production batches. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.