RESUMO
Objective To establish the quality standard of Catharsis Tea. Methods Rhei Radix et Rhizoma, Scutellariae Radix and Aurantii Fructus were identified by thin-layer chromatography (TLC). HPLC method was established for the determination of emodin and rhein, performed on SunFire C18 column (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm), with methanol-0.1%H3PO4 (85∶15) as the mobile phase at the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, column temperature at 30 ℃, and detection wavelength of 254 nm. Results The TLC was exclusive. Within the range of 0.448-1.344 μg, emodin presented a fine linear relationship, r =0.999 7. Within the range of 0.011-0.077 μg, rhein presented a fine linear relationship, r=0.999 8. The recovery of rhein and emodin was 98.52% and 97.53% with RSD of 1.02% and 1.15% (n=6) respectively.Conclusion The methods are reliable, accurate, reproducible, and can be used for the quality control of Catharsis Tea.