Simultaneous determination of four bioactive compounds in Verbena officinalis L. by using high-performance liquid chromatography.
BACKGROUND
Verbena officinalis L., called mabiancao in Chinese, is derived from the aerial part of Herba Verbanae. It is a traditional Chinese medicine commonly used in China and northern Europe, which is widely used for clearing away heat and detoxicating, promoting blood circulation, and removing blood stasis. This paper describes a sensitive and specific assay for the determination of four bioactive compounds in V. officinalis L.


METHODS
In this paper, the four components were separated on an Agilent Zorbax Extend C(18) column (250 mm × 4.6 mm × 5 μm) and detected by a diode array detector. The mobile phase was composed of (a) aqueous phosphoric acid (0.1%, v/v) and (b) acetonitrile using a gradient elution. Analytes were performed at 30°C with a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min and UV detection at 203, 238, and 331 nm.


RESULTS
All calibration curves showed good linear regression (r(2) ≥ 0.9999) within tested ranges. Overall intra- and interday variations were less than 1.84%, and the average recoveries were 97.32-102.81% for analytes.


CONCLUSIONS
The proposed method would be sensitive enough and reliable for comprehensive quality control for clinical use and modernization of V. officinalis L.
Research Center of TCM Processing Technology, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Zhen
Z
Liu
Zhiwei
Z
Xu
Hanyu
H
Zhou
Gang
G
Cao
Xiao-Dong
XD
Cong
Yun
Y
Zhang
Bao-Chang
BC
Cai