Determination of Notoginsenoside R₂(S), Gypenoside XVII and Ginsenoside F₂ in Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma Extracts by HPLC

OBJECTIVE To develope an HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of notoginsenoside R₂(S), gypenoside XVII and ginsenoside F₂ in Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma extracts. METHODS The analysis was performed on an Agilent 1260 series HPLC system with Waters Acquity UPLC CSH-C₁₈ (50 mm×2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) column. Gradient elution using 0.01%-formic acid-water and 0.01%-formic acid-acetonitrile as the mobile phases with detection wavelength of 203 nm, flow rate of 0.35 mL·min^-1, injection volume 5 μL and column temperature 40 ℃ was applied. RESULTS The total analyzing time was 43 min. The high determination coefficient values (r²>0.999 8) indicated good correlations between saponin concentrations and their peak areas within the test ranges. The overall intra-day and inter-day variations (RSD) of 3 major saponins were <3.4%. The developed method was successfully used for the analysis of saponins in Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma extracts with overall recovery of 98.4%–102.1% for all the analytes. CONCLUSION This analytical method is accurate and convenient for the determination of 3 saponins in Panax notoginseng extracts.