Abstract: A characteristic chromatogram combined with single standard to determine multi-components (SSDMC) method was established by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to evaluate the quality of Angelicae sinensis Radix (ASR) through a simultaneous determination of eight components, including ferulic acid (FA), senkyunolide I (SI), senkyunolide (SH), coniferyl ferulate (CF) , E -ligustilide (EL) , E-butylidenephthalide (EB), Z -ligustilide (ZL) and Z-butylidenephthalide (ZB). Since most of the eight components were unstable and difficult to obtain, either FA or ZL can be selected as the single marker, and the contents of the other seven compounds were determined by their respective conversion factors (0.46-1.15). The chromatogram obtained could be used to characterize ASR and its adulterates, including Chuanxiong Rhizoma (CR) and Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix (LR) (Fig. 1). The method was validated for accuracy, precision, specificity, linearity, range, stability, ruggedness, robustness, and then successfully applied to evaluate 44 batches of ASR from four origins of China, including Gansu, Sichuan, Hubei and Yunnan. Results showed this SSDMC method could obtain true value compared with external standard method, and the eight components assayed had no significant difference among the four origins. The contents of total ferulic acids and total butylidenephthalides can both be used to evaluate the quality of ASR with acceptance criteria set as 0.15% and 0.70% respectively. This is a simple, rapid, low-cost and reliable method established for quantitative analysis and quality control of Angelicae sinensis Radix, as well as Chuanxiong Rhizoma and Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix.
Keywords: single standard to determine multi-components, conversion factor, quality control, Angelicae Sinensis Radix
