ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a new method for the determination of fangchinoline and tetrandrine in Stephania tetrandra and Fengtongan capsule by noanqueous capillary electrophoresis.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Separation was carried out in an uncoated fused capillary (50 cm x 75 microm i.d.) with a running buffer containing 50 mmol x L(-1) ammonium acetate, 1.0% acetic acid and 20% acetonitrile in methanol. A separation voltage of 20 kV and a UV detector wavelength at 214 nm were adopted. Sample was introduced from the anode.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The calibration ranges were 1.00, 500 mg x L(-1) for both analytes. Under the optimum conditions, the relative standard deviation (RSD, n = 6) for the migration time of each analyte were 0.09%, 1.9% (intra-day) and 0.63%, 1.9% (inter-day); The RSD for the peak area of each analyte were 0.45%, 5.9% (intra-day) and 2.3%, 5.6% (inter-day), respectively. The contents of the analytes were determined easily with average recoveries 102% for fangchinoline and 105% for tetrandrine in S. tetrandra and 94.6% for fangchinoline and 98.7% for tetrandrine in Fengtongan capsules, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The proposed method is simple, rapid, accurate and higher repeatable, and can be used to control of the quality of S. tetrandra and Fengtongan capsules.</p>