DETERMINATION OF CURCULIGOSIDE IN CURCULIGINIS RHIZOMA BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

An assay method for the determination of curculigoside in Curculiginis Rhizoma by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was set up. After extraction with ethyl acetate, curculigoside was hydrolyzed in 1 N NaOH, and quantitatively converted to 2,6-dimethoxybenzoic acid (2,6 -DA). The determination of curculigoside in Curculiginis Rhizoma was p erformed indirectly by measuring the content of 2,6-DA by HPLC. The ca libration curve for this method exhibited a good linearity with a corr elation coefficient of 1.0000 over the concentration range 1.0 to 81.0 mu g 2,6-DA/ml (from 3 to 207 mu g/ml as curculigoside). Using this m ethod, 7 lots of Curculiginis Rhizoma produced in China contained abou t 0.2% curculigoside on average. To estimate the reliability of this m ethod, the curculigoside content of Curculiginis Rhizoma was determine d by direct assay applying the HPLC method and using curculigoside as the standard. Both methods agreed very well and this method was found to be satisfactory for estimating the contents of curculigoside in Cur culiginis Rhizoma.