Simultaneous Determinations of Eleven Bioactive Components in Suanzaoren Decoction Granules by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Its Application to the Quality Control in Productive Processes

Abstract

A simple and reliable method using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode array detector (HPLC-PDA) was firstly established for the determinations of eleven bioactive compounds (neomangiferin, mangiferin, spinosin, liquiritin apioside, liquiritin, fumalic acid, 6′′′-feruloylspinosin, senkyunolide I, isoliquiritin, glycyrrhizic acid and senkyunolide A) in Suanzaoren decoction (SZRD) extract and its granules. The chromatographic analysis was performed on a C₁₈ column at 30°C. Excellent linear behaviors over the investigated concentration ranges were observed with the values of R² being higher than 0.9990 for all analytes. The developed method showed good precision and accuracy with overall intra- and inter-day variations of less than 2.0%, and overall recoveries in the range of 97.2 – 102.1%. The validated method was successfully applied to the determination of eleven components in SZRD samples from different production batches, including SZRD extract, lab-made SZRD granules and clinical medicine. This accurate and reliable HPLC-PDA method will be helpful for improving the quality evaluation of SZRD granules and its quality control in productive processes.