ABSTRACT
Objective:To establish the ultra-performance liquid chromatography （UPLC） fingerprints of Artemisiae Argyi Folium and Artemisiae Argyi Folium processed with four excipients， and quantitatively analyze the 8 phenolic acids and flavonoids contained in them， in order to explore the quality evaluation method of Artemisiae Argyi Folium processed with four excipients. Method:UPLC was used with Shim-pack XR-ODS C<sub>18</sub> column （2.0 mm×75 mm， 2.2 µm）， mobile phase of acetonitrile （A） -0.2% formic acid aqueous solution （B） for gradient elution （0-1 min， 10%A； 1-2 min， 10%-15%A； 2-17 min， 15%-18%A； 17-24 min， 18%-28%A； 24-36 min， 28%-38%A； 36-41 min， 38%-60%A； 41-45 min， 60%-100%A）， detection wavelength of 330 nm and flow rate of 0.2 mL·min<sup>-1</sup>. The UPLC fingerprints of Artemisiae Argyi Folium before and after processing were established， and analyzed by chemometrics. Contents of 5-caffeoylquinic acid， 3-caffeoylquinic acid， 4-caffeoylquinic acid， 3，4-dicaffeoylquinic acid， 3，5-dicaffeoylquinic acid， 4，5-dicaffeoylquinic acid， jaceosidin and epuatilin in the decoction pieces were determined. Result:The fingerprints of Artemisiae Argyi Folium before and after processing were established， and the UPLC characteristic chromatograms of Artemisiae Argyi Folium before and after processing had good consistency， and the similarity was >0.94. Compared with Artemisiae Argyi Folium， the contents of 3-caffeoylquinic acid and 3，4-dicaffeoylquinic acid had no significant change after processing， the contents of jaceosidin and epuatilin decreased after processing， while the contents of 5-caffeoylquinic acid， 4-caffeoylquinic acid and 4，5-dicaffeoylquinic acid increased significantly （<italic>P<</italic>0.01）， their average increasing rates were 32.50%， 66.83%， 29.39%， respectively. And content of 3，5-dicaffeoylquinic acid was significantly decreased （<italic>P<</italic>0.01） ， and the average reduction rate was 51.25%. Conclusion:The contents of chemical components in Artemisiae Argyi Folium and Artemisiae Argyi Folium processed with four excipients have changed to a certain extent. Among them， 5-caffeoylquinic acid， 3，5-dicaffeoylquinic acid， 4-caffeoylquinic acid and 4，5-dicaffeoylquinic acid can be used as the key indicators for quality evaluation of Artemisiae Argyi Folium before and after processing.