Development and validation of ultra-performance convergence chromatography method for quality control of Saposhnikoviae Radix

Ultra-performance convergence chromatography (UPC²) is an environmentally friendly analytical method that uses dramatically reduced amounts of organic solvents [1,2]. As the concept of “green chemistry” has grown more widely accepted, UPC² has become an alternative and complementary method to the HPLC technique [1]. A rapid, sensitive, and environmentally friendly UPC² method was developed for rapid quantification of four major chromones (cimifugin, 4'-β-D-glucosyl 5-O-methylvisamminol, s-O-glucosylhamaudol and prim-O-glucosylcimifugin) in Saposhnikoviae Radix using a Waters UPC² Torus Diethylamine column (2.1 mm × 150 mm, 1.7 µm) with a runtime of 6.5 min. This method validated according to the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines for the validation of analytical procedures with respect to precision, accuracy, and linearity. The limits of detection of four chromones ranged from 0.01 to 0.03 µg/mL, while the limits of quantitation ranged from 0.02 to 0.10 µg/mL. The four chromones showed good regression (r ² > 0.999), excellent precision (RSD < 0.60%), and acceptable recoveries (99.48 – 102.89%). Comparison of system performance with conventional HPLC was made with respect to analysis time, efficiency and sensitivity. Quantification of four chromones in 13 commercial samples of Saposhnikoviae Radix was successfully performed using the developed UPC² method. The identity and authenticity of Saposhnikoviae Radix were successfully monitored by the proposed UPC² method. This study provided some references for quality control of Saposhnikoviae Radix.

[1] Geng Y, Zhao L, Zhao J, Guo B, Ma P, Li Y, Zhang T. J Chromatogr B 2014; 945: 121 – 126

[2] Gong X, Qi N, Wang X, Lin L. Li J. Food Chem 2014; 162: 172 – 175.