Determination of Vitamin C in Herba Epimedii by Ultraviolet Spectrophotometry

Vitamin C in herba epimedii was determined by ultraviolet spectrophotometry at 243nm;1.0%(V/V) HCl aqueous solution was selected to extract vitamin C from fresh Epimedium leaves. Calibration curve was found in the range of 2—50mg/L and the correlation coefficient of linear regression analysis was 0.9992(n=3).Recovery of vitamin C was between 97% and 115%(n=3).Relative standard deviations(RSDs)were less than 6.0%(n=3).LOD and LOQ were 1.33mg/L and 4.04mg/L,respectively.A variation of the contents of vitamin C was found among the cultivated samples of E.sagittatum,E. myrianthum and E. dolichostemon.