Qualitative and quantitative analysis of Chinese herb fructus chaenomelis

Abstract Objective To establish reliable methods for evaluating the quality of Chinese herb fructus chaenomelis. Methods Qualitative analysis by Thin layer chromatography (TLC), reference substances were Chaenomeles speciosa (Sweet) Nakai and oleanolic acid, a mixed solvent of chloroform-methanol (40:1) was employed as the mobile phase, color developing agent was 10% sulfuric acid-ethanol solution. In the system of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a Prontosil Eurobond C 18 column (250 mmx4.0 mm, 5 μm) was used, the mobile phase was composed of acetonitrile-methanol-0.4% ammonium acetate solution (55:25:20), the flow rate was 1.0 ml/min with UV detected at 210 nm, the column temperature was maintained at room temperature. Results In the system of TLC, oleanolic acid was separated successfully. In HPLC, the linear ranges of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid were 5.89±13.73 μg ( R =0.9990) and 6.84±15.96 μg ( R =0.9990), respectively. The average recoveries of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid were 97.52% (RSD=2.58%), 98.21% (RSD=2.23%), respectively. Conclusion The established TLC method can easily distinguish Chinese herb fructus chaenomelis from other commonly used crude drugs of the same family. The HPLC method for determining oleanolic acid and ursolic acid is simple, reproducible, accurate and feasible. The methods reported in this paper can be used scientifically and effectively to evaluate the quality of Chinese herb fructus chaenomelis.