Quantification and stability studies on the flavonoids of Radix hedysari.

Radix hedysari is not only a restorative food but also a famous Traditional Chinese Medicine. In this study, a simple, reliable, and reproducible high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet method was developed for the first time to determine the true contents of five major flavoniods, naringenin-7-O-alpha-L-rhamanopyranosyl-(1-->2)-beta-d-glucopyranoside, ononin, formononetin, medicarpin, and an unstable flavonoid malonate (formononetin-7-O-beta-D-glucoside-6' '-O-malonate, FGM), and the stability of FGM was also investigated. Flavoniods were selected as chemical markers because they have appeared as one of the major bioactive compound groups in Radix hedysari. The stability results of FGM at different pH showed that it remained relatively stable in acidic aqueous methanol of pH 3. The HPLC assay with an improved sample preparation scheme can be readily utilized as a suitable "chemical" quality control method for Radix hedysari.