Quality evaluation of Yanghuo Sanqi tablet through a simultaneous determination of five major active Flavonoids and three main saponins by HPLC-DAD-ELSD

Summary

Yanghuo Sanqi tablet (YST), combined prescription mainly derived from the leaves of Herba epimedii and the roots of Panax notoginseng, is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Flavonoids (icarrin, epimedin A, epimedin B, epimedin C, and baohuoside I) and saponins (notoginsenoside R1, ginsenoside Rgl, and ginsenoside Rbl) are considered as the main bioactive compounds of YST. However, there is no report on quality control of TCMs by simultaneous determination of above-mentioned flavonoids and saponins so far. In this work, for the first time, a high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector-evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-DAD-ELSD) method was developed to evaluate the quality of YST through a simultaneous determination of five major active flavonoids and three main saponins. Optimum separations were obtained with a Zorbax SB-C18 column by gradient elution with acetonitrile-water as the mobile phase. The drift tube temperature of ELSD was set at 105 °C, and the nebulizing gas flow rate was 2.5 L min ⁻¹. The fully validated method was successfully applied to quantify the eight bioactive components in three lot products. This simple, low-cost, and reliable HPLC-DAD-ELSD method provided a new basis for assessing the quality of traditional Chinese medicinal compound preparations (TCMCPs) consisting of many bioactive components.