Simultaneous Determination of Seven Bioactive Compounds in Wuji Pill by HPLC

A high performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode-array detection method was developed for simultaneous determination of gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, paeoniflorin, jatrorrhizine hydrochloride, dehydroevodiamine, palmatine chloride and berberine hydrochloride in the Chinese proprietary medicine “Wuji Pill” (WJP). The analysis was performed by reversed phase gradient elution, using an aqueous mobile phase (containing 0.05 mol/L monopotassium phosphate and 0.1% aqueous phosphosnic acid) modified by acetonitrile and detection made at 340 nm. The method was validated for limits of detection and quantification, precision, repeatability, stability, accuracy and robustness. Five batches of self-manufactured WJP were analyzed and found to contain different amounts of the seven bioactive markers. The method could be used for quality assessment of this Chinese materia medica preparation.