ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To establish the high-performance thin layer chromatographic(HPTLC) fingerprints of volatile oil and flavonoids in Alpinia katsumadai Hayata so as to provide scientific information for its quality control, and determine the fingerprints similarity of with its related species. METHODS: The separation was performed on the pre-coated HPTLC GF254 silica gel plates. The volatile oil was developed with solvent system of toluene-ethyl acetate(9: 1). The relative humidity was 18%. The spots were visualized with 5% vanillin sulfuric acid solution. The flavonoides compounds were developed with solvent system of toluene-ethyl acetate-acetic acid (8: 1.5: 0.5). The spots were visualized with 5% aluminium chloride ethanol solution which needed to be observed at 365 nm. The common patterns of HPTLC fingerprints were obtained by CHROMAP 1.5 solution software, and authentication and quality assessment were performed by similarity and principle component analysis. RESULTS: The common patterns of the volatile oil and flavonoids consisted of 10 characteristic peaks and 7 characteristic peaks, respectively. Eucalyptol and alpinetin were identified by chemical reference substances. CONCLUSION: The qualities of Alpinia katsumadai Hayata collected from different areas are not distinctly different. Obvious difference exists in the chemical compositions of the volatile oil and flavonoids between Alpinia katsumadai Hayata and its counterfeit and other related species. This method is simple and rapid, which can serve as an effective identification and quality assessment method for Alpinia katsumadai Hayata.