OBJECTIVETo establish a qualitative and quantitative reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with fingerprinting technique for quality control of compound dandelion enema.

METHODSHPLC was utilized for quality assessment of 10 batches of samples. RP-HPLC analysis was performed on a Hypersil BDS C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) with the mixture of acetonitrile (A) and potassium phosphate solution (B) (pH3.2) as the mobile phase in gradient mode. The concentrations of solvent A were 10%, 80% and 80% at 0, 38 and 40 min, respectively. The column temperature was set at 35 degrees C, the flow rate at 0.7 ml/min and the detection wavelength at 254 nm.

RESULTSHPLC fingerprinting was established from the 10 batches, and the data showed 23 characteristic peaks in the compound dandelion enema for use as index peaks for qualitative identification. Comparison of the retention time and the on-line UV spectra of the samples with the chemical standards identified peaks 3, 4 and 8 as protocatechualdehyde, caffeic acid and ferulic acid, respectively. The contents of caffeic acid in the compound dandelion enema ranged between 63.7 and 136.8 microg/ml.

CONCLUSIONHigh specific chromatographic fingerprinting and quantitative measurement of caffeic acid allows rigorous quality control of compound dandelion enema.