Development of an HPLC-UV-ELSD method for quantification of multiple components of a Chinese medicine made from Radix salvia miltiorrhiza and Panax notoginseng

Fufang Danshen tablet (FDT), made from Radix salvia miltiorrhiza and Panax notoginseng, is a widely used botanical drug derived from traditional Chinese medicine. Quantification of the active components of Radix salvia miltiorrhiza and Panax notoginseng is very important for regulation of FDT products. In this study HPLC hyphenated-with ultraviolet (UV) detection and evaporative light-scattering detection (ELSD) was used for simultaneous determination of nine active components (three salvianolic acids, three tanshinones, and three saponins) of FDT products. Separation was performed on a 250 mm x 4.6 mm i.d., 5.0 mu m particle-size, C-18 column with linear gradient elution. UV detection at 280 and 254 nm was used for detection of the three salvianolic acids and the three tanshinones, respectively. ELSD was used for detection of the three saponins, which were difficult to analyze by use of UV detection. The linearity of the calibration plots was excellent over the concentration ranges investigated (values of R 2 were >0.99 for all the analytes) and recovery measured at three concentrations was between 92.2 and 107.7%. The validated method was successfully used for simultaneous determination of these components in FDT products.