Analytical Sciences


Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 19(8), 1163 (2003).

Simultaneous Determination ofHydroxyanthraquinones in Rhubarb and Experimental Animal Bodies byHigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography
Mingyu DING,* Shuaiwu MA,** and Delin LIU**
*Department of Chemistry, TsinghuaUniversity, Beijing 100084, China
**Institute of Basic Theory of TCM,China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100700,China
A simple and reliable high-performanceliquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the simultaneousdetermination of five hydroxyanthraquinones (aloe-emodin, rhein, emodin,chrysophanol, and physcion) in Rhubarb and experimental animal bodies. AZorbax SB-C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm i.d., 5 µm) and a methanol-0.5%acetic acid (85:15, v/v) mobile phase were used for the separation. Thedetection wavelength of a diode array detector (DAD) was set at 254 nm.Regression equations revealed a linear relationship (R2 >0.9996) between the mass of hydroxyanthraquinones injected and the peakareas detected by DAD. The detection limits (S/N = 3) rangedfrom 0.35 ng to 3.13 ng, and the recoveries ranged from 83% to 103% fordifferent hydroxyanthraquinones. This method is simple, sensitive andsuitable for the analysis of hydroxyanthraquinones in medicinal materialsand pharmacological experiment samples.