Improved chromatographic fingerprinting combined with multi-components quantitative analysis for quality evaluation of Penthorum chinense by UHPLC-DAD.

A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) fingerprint is commonly used for quality consistency evaluation of herbal medicines. Recently, an improved chromatographic technique resulted in ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC), which could provide higher resolution in less time under higher pressure using finer particles (less than 2μm) of stationary phase. A simple and sensitive method was developed and validated for fingerprint analysis of Penthorum chinense Pursh (PC), with the simultaneous determination of seven components using UPLC coupled with a diode-array detector (DAD). It took less than 20 min for analysis of one sample. Both similarity analysis and principle components analysis (PCA) were employed to evaluate the quality consistency of 17 sample batches. The analysis was performed on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC HSS T3 (2.1 x 150 mm, 1.7 μm) column, which was maintained at 45°C and the eluents were monitored with DAD at 270 nm. A gradient elution with acetonitrile and water containing 0.075% phosphoric acid was used. The solvent flow rate was 0.4 mL/min. Standard calibration curves showed good linear behavior (R2 > 0.9994) in the range of 0.20-337.05 μg/mL. Acceptable repeatability (RSD < 0.61%), reproducibility (RSD < 2.72%), stability (RSD < 1.59%) and recovery in the range of 94.7%-102.9% were obtained (precision and accuracy). The validated method was successfully applied to evaluate the quality of 21 samples of PC.