Determination of hesperidin in Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae by semi-micro HPLC with electrochemical detection.

Determination of hesperidin contents in Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae was performed by a simple extraction with methanol and semi-micro high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (muHPLC-ECD). Chromatography was performed using a microbore octadecylsilica (ODS) column, methanol-water-phosphoric acid (40:60:0.5, v/v/v), as a mobile phase and applied potential at +0.9 V versus Ag/AgCl. Peak heights were found linearly related to the concentrations of hesperidin injected 9.16 ng/ml to 3.06 microg/ml (r>0.999). The detection limit (S/N=3) was 3.06 ng/ml (15.3 pg). Hesperidin of 305 ng/ml was detected with a relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of 0.79% (n=5). Hesperidin in Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae was extracted with methanol, diluted with the mobile phase, and injected into the muHPLC-ECD for determination. The hesperidin content of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae from four different districts in China were determined with R.S.D. of 3.59%, 2.29%, 2.36%, and 2.32% (n=5), respectively. Recoveries of hesperidin from the four Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae sources were 100.3%, 99.83%, 100.7%, and 100.6%, respectively. This method is useful for the determination of hesperidin in Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, and especially so for instances when samples are sparse.