QUANTITATIVE-DETERMINATION OF CONSTITUENTS IN VARIOUS LICORICE ROOTS BY MEANS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

During the course of our studies on the chemical constituents of botan ically identified Chinese licorice roots of various origins, we have i dentified 15 kinds of saponins and 49 kinds of flavonoids (including f lavonoid glycosides). With these chemical constituents at hand, we hav e carried out the chemical evaluation studies of licorice roots availa ble in Japan by means of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) . In the HPLC analysis using an ODS reversed-phase column, a combinati on of 1% aqueous acetic acid and acetonitrile was used as the mobile p hase in a gradient solvent system, and the eluate was monitored with U V absorption at 254 nm (for saponins with a diene or a conjugated carb onyl moiety, liquiritin, and liquiritin apioside) or at 350 nm (for ot her flavonoid constituents). By our analytical method described here, quantitative analyses of saponin and flavonoid constituents were effec ted simultaneously. We have found an interesting piece of information concerning the origin of parent plants and their characteristic consti tuents such as saponins and flavonoids.