OBJECTIVE

2

To establish a method for simultaneous determination of 5 saponins in Huoxue zhitong capsules/tablets and to confirm the illegal addition of

Panax ginseng

，

Panax quiquefolium

and stems and leaves of

Panax notoginseng.

METHODS

2

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was used. The Agilent RRHD Eclipse Plus C

18

column was used with mobile phase of water （containing 0.1% formic acid）-acetonitrile for gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.35 mL/min. The column temperature was 35 ℃ and the sample size was 2 μL. Using electrospray ionization source， negative ion scanning was carried out in multi-reaction monitoring mode.

RESULTS

2

The linear ranges of notoginsenoside R

1

， ginsenoside Rb

1

， ginsenoside Rg

1

， ginsenoside Rd， ginsenoside Re， ginsenoside Rf（an unique ingredient of

P. ginseng

）， ginsenoside Rb

3

（an unique ingredient of stems and leaves of

P. notoginseng

） and pseudo-ginsenoside F

11

（an unique ingredient of

P. quiquefolium

） were 9.99- 1 499.50， 9.99-1 499.50， 10.01-1 500.80， 9.99-1 499.10， 10.00-1 500.20， 9.99-1 499.50， 10.01-1 500.80， 9.99-1 499.00 ng/mL （

R

2

＞0.997）； the detection limits and the quantitative limits were not higher than 2.64 and 8.06 ng/mL， respectively. RSDs of precision， repeatability and stability （24 h） tests were all less than 6%. The average recoveries of saponins in capsules and tablets were 98.72%-102.40% and 95.18%-106.47%， respectively （all RSDs＜5%，

n

＝6）. In 18 batches of Huoxue zhitong capsules， the contents of ginsenoside Re， ginsenoside Rd， ginsenoside Rg

1

， notoginsenoside R

1

and ginsenoside Rb

1

were 291.79-426.89， 427.71-677.49， 2 294.28-3 371.43， 571.22-848.19 and 1 841.33-2 959.12 μg/g， respectively； the contents of ginsenoside Rb

3

were no more than 45.02 μg/g. In 22 batches of Huoxue zhitong tablets， the contents of above indicators of

P. notoginseng

were 44.11-393.83， 80.48-549.55， 393.36-3 548.57， 79.83-872.60， and 288.64-2 912.66 μg/g， respectively； the contents of ginsenoside Rb

3

were no more than 44.79 μg/g. Ginsenoside Rf and pseudo-ginsenoside F

11

were not detected in the two preparations.

CONCLUSIONS

2

The method can be used to determine the contents of saponins in Huoxue zhitong preparations. No illegal addition of

P. ginseng

and

P. quiquefolium

are found in 40 batches of preparations， but the input of

P. notoginseng

in some batches of tablet samples is less.