OBJECTIVE To establish the UHPLC fingerprint and multi-component determination methods of Piperis Kadsurae Caulis and Zhehaifengteng, combined with cluster analysis method to analyze and evaluate the origin and quality of medicinal materials.

METHODS The UHPLC was performed on ZORBAX Eclipse Plus C₁₈(2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.8 μm) column; mobile phase was acetonitrile-methanol-water(25∶20∶55); flow rate was 0.4 mL·min⁻¹; detection wavelengths were 380, 235 and 215 nm; column temperature was 35 ℃. Fingerprints of Piperis Kadsurae Caulis and Zhehaifengteng were established respectively, and similarity evaluation and cluster analysis were performed. Furthermore, the contents of three new lignans were determined.

RESULTS The established UHPLC fingerprints of Piperis Kadsurae Caulis and Zhehaifengteng defined 15 common peaks which 3 of them were identified, including kadsurenone(peak 11), denudatin B(peak 13) and futoquinol(peak 15). The similarity were 0.811–0.958 for Piperis Kadsurae Caulis and 0.737–0.996 for Zhehaifengteng. The established multi-component determination method had a good linear relationships(r≥0.999 7). The average recoveries were 98.37%–99.46%, and RSD were <3%(n=6). The determination results showed that there were significant differences in the content of new lignans among different batches of samples. The similarity evaluation, cluster analysis and multi-component quantitative analysis showed a high chemical consistency between Piperis Kadsurae Caulis and Zhehaifengteng.

CONCLUSION The combination of fingerprint and multi-component determination, combined with cluster analysis method is suitable for the original analysis and overall quality evaluation of Piperis Kadsurae Caulis and Zhehaifengteng, which can provide experimental basis for quality control, expansion and comprehensive utilization of Piperis Kadsurae Caulis resources.