Determination of isoquinoline alkaloids in Thalictrum herbal drugs by non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis

A rapid non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis method has been developed for the separation and determination, within 14 min, of eight isoquinoline alkaloids (berberine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, (+)-tetrandrine, berbamine, thalifaricine, northalfine, and thalistine) in seventeen samples of the herbal drug thalictrum. A methanolic solution of sodium acetate (75 mm) and acetic acid (1 M) was found to be the optimum running buffer for the separation. Thalictrum Atriplex Finet et Gagep (T. AFG) was selected for further study, including investigation of recovery and precision, because this preparation contained all the isoquinoline alkaloids tested. Calibration curves were highly linear over a 20-fold concentration range and detection limits for all eight alkaloids were in the range 0.42-3.04 mug mL(-1).