[Determination of free thiols in animal horn derived traditional Chinese medicines].

This present study is to detect the content of free thiols(-SH) in the horn derived traditional Chinese medicines( TCMs) from different animals and different regions by using fluorescence derivatization method. TCEP was used as a disulfide bond reducing agent,while SBD-F as a derivatization reagent. Fluorescent spectrophotometry was used to determine the content of-SH,and the maximum excitation wavelength and emission wavelength were set as 375 and 510 nm,respectively. As a result,under the optimized condition,the extraction of Caprae Hircus Cornu showed the highest free-SH concentration,followed by Bovis Grunniens Cornu,Bubali Cornu,and Elaphuri Davidiani Cornu. In the present study,we point out that the-SH-contained components might be the most important material basis in animal horn derived TCMs. With good accurate,sensitive and rapid properties,the present method can provide reference basis for the quality evaluation of animal horn derived TCMs and guides for the investigation on effective material basis.