Chemical fingerprint analysis and quantitative determination of steroidal compounds from Dioscorea villosa, Dioscorea species and dietary supplements using UHPLC-ELSD.

Ultra high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with evaporative light scattering detection was used for the quantification of steroidal saponins and diosgenin from the rhizomes or tubers of various Dioscorea species and dietary supplements that were purported to contain Dioscorea. The analysis was performed on an Acquity UPLC™ system with an UPLC™ BEH Shield RP18 column using a gradient elution with water and acetonitrile. Owing to their low UV absorption, the steroidal saponins were observed by evaporative light scattering detection. The 12 compounds could be separated within 15 min using the developed UHPLC method with detection limits of 5-12 µg/mL with 2 μL injection volume. The analytical method was validated for linearity, repeatability, accuracy, limits of detection and limits of quantification. The relative standard deviations for intra- and inter-day experiments were <3.1%, and the recovery efficiency was 97-101%. The total content of standard compounds was found to be in the ranges 0.01-14.5% and 0.9-28.6 mg daily intake for dry plant materials and solid commercial preparations, respectively. UHPLC-mass spectrometry with a quadrupole mass analyzer and ESI source was used only for confirmation of the identity of the various saponins. The developed method is simple, rapid and especially suitable for quality control analysis of commercial products.