Determination of Cryptotanshinone, Tanshinone I, and Tanshinone IIA in Salvia Miltiorrhiza by Micro HPLC with Amperometric Detection

A highly sensitive and simple method for determining cryptotanshinone (Cry), tanshinone I (Tan I), and tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) in Salvia miltiorrhiza was developed using micro HPLC with electrochemical detection (µHPLC-ED). The tanshinones were extracted using an ultrasonic method, with methanol as the extractant. The separation was carried out on a C18 (150 mm × 1.0 mm i.d., 3 µm particle size) analytical column. The mobile phase was acetonitrile-water-formic acid mixture (52:48:0.6, v/v/v) solution. The flow rate and the temperature of the column were set at 30 µL/min and 35°C. The applied potential was set at −0.4 V vs. Ag/AgCl. The peak heights for Cry, Tan I, and Tan IIA were found to be linearly related to the amounts injected, ranging from 0.145 µmol/L to 3.88 µmol/L, 0.226 µmol/L to 3.01 µmol/L, and 0.149 µmol/L to 3.98 µmol/L, respectively. The RSD values of intra-day precision and repeatability were not more than 3.0%, and the recovery of three analytes were ranged from 96.7% to 97.5%. The resu...