Hypericum perforatum--chemical profiling and quantitative results of St. John's Wort products by an improved high-performance liquid chromatography method.

The analysis of flavonoids, naphthodianthrones, and the phloroglucinol derivative hyperforin in H. perforatum is described in this article. In a 35-min HPLC run nine major compounds could be identified and baseline separated in the methanolic plant extracts. For an optimum separation the mobile phase consisted of 10 mM ammonium acetate buffer (pH 5.0) and an acetonitrile/methanol mixture; a Synergi MAX-RP 80 A column (C-12 material) was used as stationary phase. Detection was performed at 270 nm, and the identity of the compounds was confirmed in an LC-MS experiment. Commercial St. John's Wort products were analyzed and qualitative and quantitative results are discussed. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmaceutical Association.