OBJECTIVETo isolate and purify corynoline and acetylcorynoline from Corydalis bungeana and develop a reversed-phase HPLC method of determining the two components in C. bungeana.

METHODAlkaloids were isolated from the ethanolic extract with column gel chromatography, and identified on the basis of spectral analysis (UV, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR) and physicochemical properties. For quantitative analysis of the two components, samples were separated on an ODS column with mobile phase of methanol-15 mmol.L-1 potassium dihydrogen phosphate/potassium phosphate dibasic (pH 6.70, 70:30). The flow rate was 0.8 mL.min-1, and the detection was set at 289 nm.

RESULTThe purity was 99.5% and 99.1% for corynoline and acetylcorynoline respectively. The calibration curves were linear in the range of 6.9-110.4 mg.L-1 corynoline and 8.7-139.5 mg.L-1 acetylcorynoline. The RSD was 2.1% and 2.7%, and the average recovery was 97.3% and 97.2% respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe method of isolating and purifying corynoline and acetylcorynoline from Corydalis bungeana and the HPLC method of simultaneous determination of the two components have been developed. The HPLC method is simple, easy to perform and applicable to the content determination of corynoline and acetylcorynoline in C. bungeana of various origins.