Qualitative and quantitative methods for Alpiniae Katsumadai Semen

The qualitative and quantitative methods for the quality evaluation of Alpiniae Katsumadai Semen were established. Alpinetin, pinocembrin, cardamonin and alnustone in the sample were identified by TLC. The contents of them were determined by HPLC. The separation was performed on a Ultimate XB-C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) at 30 degrees C using a gradient elution consisting of mobile phase A (water) and mobile phase B (MeOH). The detection wavelength was 300 nm. The TLC method was suitable for the identification of alpinetin, pinocembrin, cardamonin and alnustone. The linear ranges of the four reference compounds were 25.5-509 (r = 0.9999), 24.9-498 (r = 0.9999), 26.1-521 (r = 0.9999), 50.2-1003 ng (r = 0.9999), respectively. The average recoveries (n=9) of the four components were 97.95%, 97.36%, 97.50%, 98.02%, RSD < 1.9%. Nine samples were analyzed by the established methods. The results indicate that, the methods are simple, accurate, sensitive and reliable for quality evaluation of Alpiniae Katsumadai Semen.