[Determination of the aconitine alkaloids in traditional Chinese medicine chuanwu and caowu by high performance capillary electrophoresis(HPCE)].

A simple and rapid method for the simultaneous assay of three aconitine alkaloids (mesaconitine (MA), hypaconitine (HA) and aconitine (A) in the traditional Chinese medicines, Chuanwu and Caowu, by high performance capillary electrophoresis has been established, using tetracaine as an internal standard. The experimental conditions were as follows, the electrophoretic medium was composed of V[70 mmol/L Tris-borate (pH 8.49)]: V(methanol) = 60:40, uncoated capillary used was 50 cm x 50 microns i.d. and detection was carried out with a UV monitor at 235 nm. The separation was achieved by optimizing the cartridge temperature, the applied voltage, and the pH as well as the concentration of the buffer, and organic modifier. The calibration curve showed a good linearity in the mass concentration range of 0.0115-0.8330 g/L (r = 0.9996) for MA, 0.0089-0.6440 g/L (r = 0.9997) for HA, and 0.0083-0.6000 g/L(r = 0.9997) for A. The recoveries ranged from 93.0% to 104.0% with relative standard deviations from 0.68% to 1.7%. The total time for separation and determination was within 23 min. By means of this method, three aconitine alkaloids in Chuanwu and Caowu have been determined.