ABSTRACT
Objective To establish a rapid and effective supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and rapid resolution liquid chromatography method coupled with diode-array detector (RRLC-DAD) to quantify the chromones in a species. Methods The effects of four parameters including ethanol concentration (50%–90%), pressure (25–45 MPa), temperature (40–60 oC), and time (30–90 min) on the chromones yields, namely prim-O-glucosylcimifugin, cimifugin, 5-O-methylvisammioside, and sec-O-gluco-sylhamaudol, were investigated using SFE system with orthogonal array design (OAD). Furthermore, the extracts were analyzed using rapid resolution liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detector (RRLC-DAD) system to confirm the results. Results Under the optimized conditions, i. e., 35 MPa of pressure, 60 °C of temperature, 70% ethanol, and 60 min of time, the yields of prim-O-glucosylcimifugin, cimifugin, 5-O-methylvisammioside, sec-O-glucosylhamaudol, and total chromones were 3.514, 0.132, 6.242, 0.342, and 10.231 mg/g, respectively. In comparison with ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE), SFE was able to yield a 20.7% increase in the total chromones from Saposhnikoviae Radix. Conclusion SFE is an alternative and promising method to extract chromones from this species, and the established RRLC-DAD method could serve as a rapid and effective method for the identification of chromones from Saposhnikoviae Radix.