Simultaneous determination of cinnamaldehyde, eugenol and paeonol in traditional Chinese medicinal preparations by capillary GC-FID.

A capillary GC method was established for simultaneous determination of cinnamaldehyde (CNMD), eugenol (EL) and paeonol (PL) in two traditional Chinese herbal medicinal preparations, Weitongding tablet (WTDT) and Guifu Dihuang pill (GDHP). The assays were based on a programmed temperature GC in a 30 m x 0.53 mm capillary column with nitrogen as carrier and FID detector. Good linearities were obtained over ranges of 0.45-452 mg/l CNMD, 0.31-625 mg/l EL and 0.30-610 mg/l PL, respectively. The spike recoveries were within 84-111%.