Simultaneous determination of six Aconitum alkaloids in proprietary Chinese medicines by high-performance liquid chromatography.
By optimizing the extraction, separation and analytical conditions, a reliable and accurate high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method coupled with photodiode array detector (DAD) was developed for simultaneous quantitative determination of six Aconitum alkaloids, i.e., aconitine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine, benzoylaconine, benzoylmesaconine and benzoylhypaconine, in Chinese medicinal herbs, aconite roots, and 12 proprietary Chinese medicines containing processed aconite roots. The separation of these Aconitum alkaloids was achieved on an ODS column with gradient elution using solvents of acetonitrile and ammonium bicarbonate buffer (pH 10.0+/-0.2). Intra-assay and inter-assay precision of the analytes were less than 2.97%, and the average recovery rates obtained were in the range of 90-103% for all with RSDs below 3.28%. Good linear relationships were showed with correlation coefficients for the analytes exceeded 0.999. Quantitative analysis of the six Aconitum alkaloids in the unprocessed and processed aconite roots and in twelve proprietary Chinese medicines containing processed aconite roots showed that the contents of the alkaloids varied significantly. This method and quantitation results can provide a scientific and technical platform to the products manufacturers for setting up a quality control standard as well as to the public for quality and safety assurance of the proprietary Chinese medicines and other herbal preparations containing aconite roots.
Xie
Ying
Y
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
Jiang
Zhi Hong
ZH
Zhou
Hua
H
Xu
Hong Xi
HX
Liu
Liang
L
D031841:Aconitum / Q000737:chemistry*; D000470:Alkaloids / Q000032:analysis*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D000470:Alkaloids; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal