Abstract

Purpose: To develop and validate a simple and reliable reversed–phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of notoginsenoside R₁, ginsenoside Rg₁, ginsenoside Re, ginsenoside Rb₁ and icariin in “Qihuotongqiao” tablets composed of Panax notoginseng and Herba epimedii extracts. Methods: The HPLC assay was performed on an Agilent SB-C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µm) with gradient elution using acetonitrile-water over a period of 60min. The detection wavelengths were 203 nm for saponins and 270 nm for icariin, respectively. Results: All compounds showed a good linear relationship (r=0.9991–0.9994) within the inspection concentration range. The recovery of the method was 91.9%–108.4%. The method was reproducible with intra- and inter-day variations of less than 5%. Conclusions: The method established is robust, resisting small deliberate changes in flow rate and the ratio of the organic components in the mobile phase, and even when chromatographic columns from different manufacturers are used. It is considered as a suitable quality control method for “Qihuotongqiao” tablets.


Keywords:  RP-HPLC   Panax notoginseng   Herba epimedii   Quality control