Abstract
The clear-cut separation of all of the secoiridoid glucosides of Swertiae Herba into acylated and unacylated glucosides fractions was achieved by solvent extractions of an aqueous suspension of the methanolic extract. The separation of all of the secoiridoid glucosides in both fractions was accomplished by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a reverse phase column, and the homogeneity of each peak was examined by means of field desorption mass spectrometry. The conditions for the quantitative analysis of these glucosides by HPLC and the application of HPLC to the analysis of the constituents of Swertia japonica and S. pseudochinensis are reported.
