ABSTRACT
Objective: To develop an HPLC-DAD wavelength switching combined with gradient elution method for the determination of the contents of calycosin 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, solasonine, solamargine, chonglou saponin I, chonglou saponin II, chonglou saponin VI, chonglou saponin VII, specnuezhenide, rosmarinic acid, rhein, chrysophanol, and emod in Boerning Capsules (BC) simultaneously. Methods: The chromatographic separation was achieved on an Atlantis T3 C18 (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with acetonitrile-methanol (A)-0.1% formic acid solution (B) as mobile phase at the flow rate of 0.8 mL/min for gradient elution; variable wavelength method; sample quantity was 20 μL. Results: The 12 active components were well separated and showed good linearity, such as calycosin 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, solasonine, solamargine, polyphyllin I, polyphyllin II, polyphyllin VI, polyphyllin VII, specnuezhenide, rosmarinic acid, rhein, chrysophanol, and emod 1.97—19.70 μg/mL (r = 0.999 2), 1.022—10.220 μg/mL (r = 0.999 3), 0.982—9.820 μg/mL (r = 0.999 1), 1.102—11.020 μg/mL (r = 0.999 3), 1.114—11.140 μg/mL (r = 0.999 5), 1.154—11.540 μg/mL (r = 0.999 8), 1.114—11.140 μg/mL (r = 0.999 5), 2.768—27.680 μg/mL (r = 0.999 3), 3.04—30.40 μg/mL (r = 0.999 6), 3.379—33.790 μg/mL (r = 0.999 5), 3.286—32.860 μg/mL (r = 0.999 4), and 3.507—35.070 μg/mL (r = 0.999 7). The precision and repeatability were good, and RSD values were less than 2.0%. The average recoveries and the corresponding RSD values were 100.08% (1.27%), 98.11% (1.15%), 99.68% (1.13%), 101.38% (0.87%), 101.87% (0.95%), 100.53% (0.74%), 98.52% (0.83%), 99.52% (0.88%), 97.84% (1.33%), 98.31% (0.71%), 99.66% (0.57%), and 101.73% (1.41%), respectively. The contents of 12 batches of the tevelve active components were 0.085—0.118, 0.065—0.085, 0.051—0.075, 1.822—1.888, 1.532—1.599, 1.027—1.148, 2.420—2.621, 6.428—6.937, 0.258—0.289, 0.122—0.143, 0.159—0.184, and 0.222—0.273 mg/g. Conclusion: An HPLC wavelength switching combined with gradient elution method has been successfully established for simultaneous determination of 12 components in BC. The method is simple, quick, accurate, and helpful for the quality control of BC.