Simultaneous determination of six active components in crude and processed Fructus Corni by high performance liquid chromatography.

A simple and rapid HPLC method was established for simultaneously determining six active components in Fructus Corni. The six components were separated on an Agilent Zorbax Extend C18 column (250 mmx4.6 mm, 5 microm) and detected by diode array detector (DAD). Mobile phase was composed of (A) aqueous phosphoric acid (0.1%, v/v) and (B) acetonitrile phosphoric acid (0.1%, v/v) using a gradient elution. Analyses were performed at 30 degrees C with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and UV detection at 218 nm, 240 nm and 284 nm. All calibration curves showed good linear regression (r2>or=0.9999) within tested ranges. The LOD and LOQ were 0.11-1.69 microg/mL and 1.48-16.60 microg/mL, respectively. Overall intra-day and inter-day variations were less than 4.72%, and the average recoveries were 97.97-102.51% for the analytes. The developed method can be applied to the intrinsic quality control of Fructus Corni.