ABSTRACT
Objective: To establish a method for determination of quercetin-3-O-gentiobioside, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, isoquercitrin, quercetin, and 5,7,4'-trihydroxyflavone in Abelmoschus esculentus from 12 different regions of China. Methods: COSMOSIL column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5.4 μm) was used. The gradient elution was carried out with acetonitrile and 0.2% phosphoric acid aqueous solution. The detection wavelength was 353 nm and the flow rate was 1 mL/min. Results: The contents of quercetin-3-O-gentiobioside, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, isoquercitrin, quercetin and 5,7,4'-trihydroxyflavone had good linear relationship in the ranges of 15.72- 251.50 μg/mL (r = 0.999 5), 15.47-247.50 μg/mL (r = 0.999 6), 14.41-230.50 μg/mL (r = 0.999 5), 21.88-350.00 μg/mL (r = 0.999 7), and 17.25-276.00 μg/mL (r = 0.999 1). The average sample recovery rate was 97.46%, 96.74%, 100.21%, 95.66%, 98.35%, and RSD was 1.97%, 1.37%, 1.86%, 2.72%, 2.23%, respectively. Conclusion: This method is simple and accurate. It is suitable for simultaneous determination of quercetin-3-O-gentiobioside, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, isoquercitrin, quercetin and 5,7,4'-trihydroxyflavone. The content of the five flavones can be used as one of the methods for evaluating the quality of A. esculentus.