Abstract: For quality control purpose, an approach of fingerprinting and simultaneous quantification of five major bioactive constituents of Rhizoma Coptidis was established via a high-performance liquid chromatograph coupled with a photodiode array UV detector(HPLC-DAD) and an electrospray ionization mass spectrometer(HPLC-ESI/MS). The compounds were identified on the basis of the comparison of their mass spectra with literature data and those of standard samples and quantified by the HPLC-DAD method. Baseline separation was achieved on an XTerra C18 column(5 μm, 250 mm×4.6 mm i. d.) with linear gradient elution of formate buffer(consisting of 0.5% formic acid, adjusted to pH=4.5 with ammonia) and acetonitrile(consisting of 0.2% formic acid and 0.2% triethylamine). The method was validated for linearity(r2>0.9995), repeatability(RSD<3.1%), intra- and inter-day precision(RSD<1.8%) with recovery(99.9%―105.1%), limits of detection(0.15―0.35 μg/mL), and limits of quantification(0.53―0.82 μg/mL). The similarities of 32 batches of Rhizoma Coptidis and their classification according to their manufacturers were based on the retention time and peak areas of the characteristic compounds. The five compounds were selected for quality assessment of Rhizoma coptidis via partial least squares analysis(PLS).

Key words: Rhizoma Coptidis, HPLC-DAD, HPLC-MS, Partial least squares analysis, Quality control