[Determination of ranunculin in Pulsatilla chinensis and synthetic ranunculin by reversed phase HPLC].

A method for the determination of ranunculin in Pulsatilla chinensis and synthetic ranunculin by reversed phase HPLC using betamethasone as internal standard is described. The column employed was a 10 micron LiChrosorb RP-18 (230 x 14 mm), the eluting solvent consisted of methanol-water (40:10, V/V) and the effluent was monitored at 225 nm. The advantages of this method are simple, rapid and accurate. The coefficients of variation are less than 1%.