Development of simple HPLC-UV method for discrimination of Adenophorae Radix

Adenophorae Radix (AR) is a frequently used medicinal herb; because of its popularity, products containing similar herbal products are often sold as substitutes, especially if their morphology is similar. However, any analytical method to identify AR based on quantitative analysis is not registered in Korea, Japan and China Pharmacopoeias. This study developed a simple HPLC method to discriminate between authentic AR and substitutes. Linoleic acid was used as a marker compound of AR. Our optimized HPLC-UV conditions included a mobile phase of 90 % acetonitrile under isocratic condition, and a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min at room temperature. Detection wavelength was set at 205 nm. Linoleic acid was detected at 13.5 minutes for a total analysis time of 20 minutes. The standard herb of AR contained 0.025 % of linoleic acid, while four authentic AR samples and eight substitutes contained 0.040 similar to 0.071 % and 0.004 similar to 0.014 %, respectively. Comparison of the linoleic acid concentrations of the sample types to reference AR showed that among 12 samples, only the four samples were authentic. Thus, our HPLC-UV method, along with our suggested content criterion for linoleic acid concentration, can be used for the quick and accurate determination whether the herbal products are authentic AR or substitute.