The chemical constituents of Chinese red ginseng (Panax ginseng) were investigated. The chemical constituents were isolated and purified by silca gel, ODS, and Sephedex LH-20, column chromatography, and preparative HPLC. Their chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of physicochemical properties and spectra data. Fourteen compounds were isolated and identified as: notoginsenoside R2 (1), 20(S) -ginsenoside Rg3 (2), 20(R) -ginsenoside Rg3 (3), 20 (S)-ginsenoside Rg2 (4), 20(R) -ginsenosideRg2 (5), 20 (S)-ginsenoside Rh1 (6), 20(R) -ginsenoside Rh1 (7), ginsenoside Rh4 (8), -Ro (9), -Rb1 (10), -Rg1 (11), Re-(12), Rf (13), maltol (14). Compounds 1, 4, 6, were obtained from red ginseng for the first time. Compounds 2 and 3, 4 and 5-7 were enantiomers respectively, enantiomers 6 and 7 were isolated as monomer for the first time.
Ginsenosides ; analysis ; chemistry ; Panax ; chemistry ; Stereoisomerism

A content determination method based on ~1H-qNMR was developed for the determination of total ginsenosides in Shenmai Injection. The parameters were optimized with CD_3OD as the solvent, dimethyl terephthalate as the internal standard, the peak at δ 8.11 as the internal standard peak, and the peaks at δ 1.68 and δ 0.79 as quantitative peaks of total ginsenosides. The developed ~1H-qNMR-based method was validated methodologically. The results showed that the method could achieve accurate measurement of total ginsenosides in Shenmai Injection in the range of 0.167 6-3.091 1 mmol·L~(-1). The developed ~1H-qNMR-based method for total ginsenosides is simple in operation, short in analysis time, strong in specificity, independent of accompanying standard curve, and small in sample volume, which can serve as a reliable mean for the quality control of Shenmai Injection. This study is expected to provide new ideas for the development of quantification methods of total ginsenosides.
Drug Combinations ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Ginsenosides/analysis* ; Quality Control

Fresh roots of healthy four-year-old American ginseng were randomly divided into two groups and stored for 180 days in sand without washing (treatment A) and in plastic bag with preservative after washing (treatment B), and sampled after 45, 90, 135 and 180 days of storage, respectively. The incidence of disease was surveyed and the contents of ginsenoside, polysaccharide, and free amino acids of roots were determined. The results indicats that the disease of ginseng could be controlled better by the treatment B than by the treatment A within 45 days, but the better effect was achieved in the treatment A after storage for 45 days. Both storage methods had significant influence on the contents of ginsenoside, polysaccharide and free amino acids of roots. For the treatment A, the ginsenoside content of roots had remained relatively high during the storage period, and the crude polysaccharide and free amino acids changed slowly within 135 days and then increase significantly until 180 days. For the treatment B, the content of crude polysaccharide of roots decreased obviously after 90 days of storatge and then became stable until 135 days. The change of content of free amino acids was similar to the crude polysaccharide, but the decline was not significant. In general, the treatment A is more benefit to keep the quality of fresh roots of American Ginseng during 180 days of storage.
Amino Acids ; analysis ; Ginsenosides ; analysis ; Panax ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; analysis ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

OBJECTIVETo establish an HPLC-DAD method for simultaneous determination of eight ginsenosides in Renshenshouwu capsules.

METHODUltimate C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) was adopted for gradient elution, with acetonitrile and water as the mobile phase. The flow rate was 1 mL x min(-1), the column temperature was set at 30 degrees C, and the detection wavelength was 203 nm.

RESULTA good linearity was observed in the range of 0.242-12.1, 0.222-11.1, 0.251-25.1, 0. 245-24.5, 0.232-23.2, 0.232-23.2, 0.264-26.4, 0.244-24.4 microg for ginsenoside Rg1, Re, Rb1, Rc, Rb2, Rb3, Rd and 20(S)-ginsenoside Rg3, respectively, with the average recoveries of 102.7%, 103.2%, 101.6%, 101.2%, 102.0%, 100.7%, 101.9%, 102.0%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe method was so simple, accurate and effective that it could be used for quality control of the above eight components in Renshenshouwu capsules.

Capsules ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; instrumentation ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Ginsenosides ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo develop a reliable method to assess the stability of xinyue capsules containing Panax quinquefolius saponins according to European quality standards.

METHODSAn efficient high-performance liquid chromatography ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) method was established to analyse six main ginsenosides (Rb1, Rb2, Rc, Rd, Re and Rg1) in six different batches (120 capsules/batch) from the same lot of xinyue capsules and in one batch measured six times within one day. The six ginsenosides were separated on a Hypersil BDS-C18 column (3 μm, 100 mm×3 mm) at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. Gradient elution was performed using a mobile phase gradient of acetonitrile-water modified with 0.01% formic acid. The HPLC chromatograms were analyzed with "LC data comparison" using Lab Solutions software.

RESULTSThe HPLC peaks were identified by comparing their retention times (Rg1: 23.44 min, Re: 23.77 min, Rb1: 35.24 min, Rc: 36.18 min, Rb2: 38.55 min and Rd: 40.88 min) with those of the standards under the same chromatographic conditions, which showed similar results among the samples of six different batches and among the samples from one batch detected six times within one day.

CONCLUSIONSXinyue capsules have good drug intra-day consistency at room temperature and exhibit a consistent quality between different batches. This study established a reliable method to assess the stability of xinyue capsules, which is suitable for further qualitative analysis and may assist in promoting the safe and effective use of Chinese herbal medicine.

Capsules ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drug Stability ; Ginsenosides ; analysis ; Saponins ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo identify the major components of traditional Chinese medicine Naodesheng tablet.

METHODSA HPLC-DAD-MS(n) based method was developed to analyze and identify the major components of Naodesheng tablet. Separation was performed on an Agilent Zorbax SB-C(18) column (4.6 mm X 250 mm, i.d, 5 μm) with mobile phase consisting of water with 0.05 % formic acid and acetonitrile as gradient eluent at the flow rate of 0.5 ml.min(-1).

RESULTSA total of 43 components were detected, among which 22 were identified by comparing their UV absorption profiles, the information of molecular Glucosyl puerarin weights, and structures provided by ESI-MS(n) with those of available standards and reference data, such as Safflor yellow A, 4'-O-Glucosyl puerarin, 3'-hydroxypuerarin, Genistein-8-C-apiosyl (1-6) glucoside, Puerarin, 6"-O-xylosyl puerarin, 6"-O-apiosyl puerarin, 3'-methoxy puerarin, 3'-methoxy-6"-o-xylosyl puerarin, Daidzin, Genistin, Pueroside A, Notoginsenoside R(1), Ginsenoside Re, Ginsenoside Rg1,Daidzein,Biochanin A,Ginsenoside Rb(1), Ginsenoside Rc, Ginsenoside Rb(2), Ginsenoside Rb(3), Ginsenoside Rd.

CONCLUSIONThe proposed method can identify the main components of Naodesheng tablet and provide information for the quality control of this medicine.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Ginsenosides ; analysis ; Isoflavones ; analysis ; Mass Spectrometry ; methods

This project is to investigate the chemical constituents of ginsenosides from the flower buds of Panax ginseng. The compounds were isolated by using a variety of chromatographic methods including Diaion HP-20,silica gel,MCI gel and semi-preparative HPLC chromatography. Their structures were identified by NMR,and MS data. As a result,32 compounds were isolated from the extract of P. ginseng flower buds,and identified as ginsenoside Rk_3( 1),ginsenoside Rh_4( 2),ginsenoside Rh_8( 3),pseudoginsenoside Rc_1( 4),ginsenoside Rc( 5),ginsenoside Rb_2( 6),ginsenoside Rg_6( 7),20( E)-ginsenoside F_4( 8),ginsenoside Rb_1( 9),vinaginsenoside R_(16)( 10),ginsenoside Rh_6( 11),vinaginsenoside R_3( 12),5,6-didehydro-ginsenoside Rd( 13),vinaginsenoside R_4( 14),vinaginsenoside R_8( 15),ginsenoside Rf( 16),notoginsenoside E( 17),ginsenoside Ⅲ( 18),3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-3β,7β,12β,20 S-tetrahydroxydammar-5( 6),24-diene-20-O-β-D-glucopyranoside( 19),20( S)-ginsenoside Rg_2( 20),20( R)-ginsenoside Rg_2( 21),notoginsenoside R_2( 22),ginsenoside F_2( 23),quinquenoside I( 24),ginsenoside M_1( 25),quinquenoside L_(10)( 26),ginsenoside Rh_5( 27),ginsenoside Rg_5( 28),ginsenoside Rk_1( 29),20( R)-ginsenoside Rg_3( 30),oleanolic acid 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-( 1→2)-β-D-( 6'-methyl ester)-glucuronopyranoside( 31) and ginsenoside MC( 32). Among them,compounds 10,12,13,15,19,22,24,31 and 32 were isolated from P. ginseng for the first time,and compound 19 was a genuine ginsenoside firstly obtained by separation and identification,with NMR data that were also reported. Compounds 1-3,7,8,23,25-30 were isolated from P. ginseng flower buds for the first time.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Flowers ; chemistry ; Ginsenosides ; analysis ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Panax ; chemistry ; Saponins ; analysis

AIM: Variation in structure-related components in plant products prompted the trend to establish methods, using multiple or total analog analysis, for their effective quality control. However, the general use of routine quality control is restricted by the limited availability of reference substances. Using an easily available single marker as a reference standard to determine multiple or total analogs should be a practical option. METHOD: In this study, the Ultra-HPLC method was used for the baseline separation of the main components in ginseng extracts. Using a plant chemical component database, ginsenosides in ginseng extracts were identified by Ultra-HPLC-MS analysis. The charged aerosol detection (CAD) system with post-column compensation of the gradient generates a similar response for identical amounts of different analytes, and thus, the content of each ginsenoside in ginseng extracts was determined by comparing the analyte peak area with the reference standard (determination of total analogs by single marker, DTSM). The total ginsenoside content was determined by the summation of reference standard and other ginsenoside components. RESULTS: The results showed that DTSM approaches were available for the determination of total ginsenosides in a high purity ginseng extract because of the removal of impurities. In contrast, DTSM approaches might be suitable for determination of multiple ginsenosides without interference from impurities in the crude ginseng extract. CONCLUSION Future practical studies similar to the present study should be conducted to verify that DTSM approaches based on CAD with post-column inverse gradient for uniform response are ideal for the quality control of plant products.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Ginsenosides ; analysis ; Mass Spectrometry ; Panax ; chemistry ; Reference Standards

Panax notoginseng contains triterpene saponins, flavonoids, amino acids, polysaccharides, volatile oil and other active components, which have the effects of promoting blood circulation, stopping bleeding, removing blood stasis, etc. This study summarized the herbal research, chemical constituents and main pharmacological activities of P. notoginseng, and based on the theory of Q-markers of traditional Chinese medicine, predicted and analyzed the Q-markers of P. notoginseng from the aspects of plant kinship, efficacy, drug properties, measurability of chemical components, etc. It was found that ginsenosides Rg_1, Re, and Rb_1 with specific content ratio, ginsenosides Rb_2, Rb_3, Rc, Rd, Rh_2, and Rg_3, notoginseng R_1, dencichine and quercetin could be used as potential Q-markers of P. notoginseng, which facilitated the formulation of quality standards reflecting the efficacy of P. notoginseng.
Panax notoginseng/chemistry* ; Ginsenosides/analysis* ; Saponins/analysis* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Panax/chemistry*

In this study, the critical quality attributes of Wuzhuyu Decoction reference sample were explored by using characteristic chromatogram, index component content and dry extract rate as indexes.The dissemination relationship of quantity value between medicinal materials-decoction pieces-reference sample was investigated to preliminarily formulate the quality standard of the reference sample.The characteristic chromatogram of 15 batches of Wuzhuyu Decoction was established by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) and the similarity analysis was conducted.Common peaks were demarcated and assigned to medicinal materials.Moreover, quantitative determination of limonin, evodiamine, rutaecarpine and ginsenoside Rb_1 of Wuzhuyu Decoction were performed.The dissemination of quantity value was explored combined with dry extract rate, similarity of characteristic chromatogram and transfer rate of index component content.A total of 18 common peaks were identified in the corresponding materials of Wuzhuyu Decoction reference sample, with the similarity of characteristic chromatogram greater than 0.9, and Fructus Evodiae, Radix Ginseng, Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens and Fructus Jujubae contributed 9, 5, 8 and 2 chromatographic peaks, respectively.The index component content of corresponding materials and the transfer rates of medicinal materials-decoction pieces and decoction pieces-reference sample of different batches of Wuzhuyu Decoction reference sample were as follows: the content of limonin was 0.16%-0.51%, and the transfer rates were 83.66%-115.60% and 38.54%-54.58%, respectively; the content of evodiamine was 0.01%-0.11%, the transfer rated were 80.80%-116.15% and 3.23%-12.93%, respectively; the content of rutaecarpine was 0.01%-0.05%, the transfer rates were 84.33%-134.53% and 5.72%-21.24%, respectively; the content of ginsenoside Rb_1 was 0.06%-0.11%, and the transfer rates were 90.00%-96.92% and 32.45%-67.24%, respectively.The dry extract rate of the whole prescription was 22.58%-29.89%.In this experiment, the dissemination of quantity value of Wuzhuyu Decoction reference sample was analyzed by the combination of characteristic chromatogram, index component content and dry extract rate.A scientific and stable quality evaluation method of the reference sample was preliminarily established, which provided basis for the subsequent development of Wuzhuyu Decoction and the quality control of related preparations.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Ginsenosides/analysis* ; Limonins/analysis* ; Quality Control