Determination of the major isosteroidal alkaloids in bulbs of Fritillaria by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detection

A new direct HPLC analytical method using evaporative light scattering dete ction coupled with a low-temperature adapter for the simultaneous determina tion of the major biologically active isosteroidal alkaloids in Bulbus Frit illariae, a commonly used antitussive traditional Chinese medicinal (TCM) h erb, has been developed, The simultaneous separation of eight Fritillaria a lkaloids was achieved on a reversed-phase C-8 column with an isocratic mobi le phase system consisting of acetonitrile-methanol-water (66.5:3.5:30, v/v ) containing 0.006% triethylamine. This method provides good reproducibilit y and sensitivity for the quantification of six major isosteroidal alkaloid s, namely peimissine, verticine, verticinone, imperialine, isoverticine and ebeiedine in different Fritillaria species with overall intra- and inter-d ay precision and accuracy of less than 11% and higher than 90%, respectivel y. The assay was successfully utilized to quantify the major biologically a ctive alkaloids in five Fritillaria species. The results demonstrate that t his method is simple, selective, and suitable for the quality control of th is commonly used antitussive TCM herb, Bulbus Fritillariae. (C) 2001 Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved.