Comparison of contents of five ephedrine alkaloids in three official origins of Ephedra Herb in China by high-performance liquid chromatography

Hao Hong, Hubiao Chen, Dong Hui Yang, Ming Ying Shang, Xuan Wang, Shao Qing Cai*, Masayuki Mikage

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In the present paper, a fast and economical HPLC method [on a Phenomenex Polar-RP column with a solution of (phosphoric acid:triethylamine:dibutylamine: water = 0.40:0.1:0.2:499.3) and methanol] is developed, and applied for the determination of norephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, ephedrine (E), pseudoephedrine (PE) and methylephedrine (ME) in 64 samples of three species from main habitats in China. Quantitation data showed that total alkaloid content in Ephedra equisetina Bge. (2.708 ± 0.642%) is higher than that in E. sinica Stapf. (1.365 ± 0.624%) and E. intermedia Schrenk et C. A. Mey. (1.537 ± 0.746%), but the range of total alkaloid content in each species is so wide that the ranges of the three species greatly overlap. The contents of E, PE and ME are different among the three species. The ratio E/total alkaloid content and ratio E/PE as well as E and ME contents can be used for identification of E. sinica, E. intermedia and E. equisetina from one another.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)623-628
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Natural Medicines
Volume65
Issue number3-4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2011

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Pharmaceutical Science
  • Drug Discovery
  • Complementary and alternative medicine
  • Organic Chemistry

User-Defined Keywords

  • Ephedra alkaloids
  • Ephedra Herb
  • Mahuang
  • Simultaneous determination
  • Species identification

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