Analysis of tetrandrine and fangchinoline in traditional Chinese medicines by capillary electrophoresis

A simple, rapid and accurate capillary electrophoresis method was developed for the determination of tetrandrine and fangchinoline in traditional Chinese medicines. The buffer solution used was a solution composed of 60 mM phosphoric acid and 50 mM Tween-20 containing 20% methanol with the pH value adjusted to 2.50 with triethylamine. The Linear calibration range was 50.6-810 mu g/ml (R=0.9999) for tetrandrine and 43.3-692 mu g/ml (R=0.9998) for fangchinoline. The contents of these two alkaloids in Radix Stephaniae tetrandrae S. Moore and seven Radix Stephaniae tetrandrae containing Chinese herbal preparations were easily determined within 23 min. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.