Analysis of Sarcandra glabra and its medicinal preparations by capillary electrophoresis

Abstract

A simple, rapid, selective and reproducible capillary electrophoresis (CE) method was firstly developed for the identification and determination of isofraxidin and fumaric acid in a traditional Chinese herb Sarcandra glabra and its medicinal preparations. The buffer solution used in this method was 7.5 mM NaH 2PO 4 and 7.5 mM borax solution adjusted to pH 8.60. The linear calibration range was 1.25–800 μg ml −1 (r=0.9997) for isofraxidin and 10–800 μg ml −1 (r=0.9992) for fumaric acid, respectively. Under the optimum conditions, the relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) values of the migration time and the peak area were 0.47, 3.45% for isofraxidin and 0.83, 3.24% for fumaric acid, respectively. The recoveries ranged between 95.4–103.8% for isofraxidin and 97.1–104.7% for fumaric acid, respectively. The contents of isofraxidin and fumaric acid in Sarcandra glabra and two kinds of Sarcandra glabra-containing Chinese medicinal preparations were successfully determined within 8 min.