Abstract

A rapid, simple and reliable high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for simultaneous determination of compound 1 (scutellarin), compound 2 [1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (1,5-DQA)] and compound 3 [1,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid (1,3-DQA)] inErigeron breviscapus. The three constituents were measured on a Zorbax XDB-C₁₈column (4.6 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm) with a gradient elution of acetonitrile (0.5%) aqueous phosphoric acid at wavelength of 335 nm and a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. Linearity of each standard was established in the concentration range of 19.375 to 310.0 μg/ml for compound 1, 6.125 to 98.0 μg/ml for compound 2, and 3.875 to 62.0 μg/ml for compound 3, respectively, with correlation coefficient r > 0.9990. Average recoveries (n = 6) of compounds 1 to 3 were 100.3% with a relative standard deviations (RSD) of 1.5%, 98.9% with a RSD of 1.9%, 98.6% with a RSD of 2.0%, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to simultaneously determine the three active constituents in E. breviscapus from different habitats and germplasm resources for the first time.

Key words: high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Erigeron breviscapus, scutellarin, 1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 1,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid.