Determination of Schisandrin A and Schisandrin B in Traditional Chinese Medicine Preparation Huganpian Tablet by RP-HPLC

A reverse phase (RP)-HPLC method for separation and determination of Schisandrin A and Schisandrin B was presented, using a C18 Bondclone column, with methanol-water (v/v = 68 : 32) as mobile phase at a flow-rate of 1.00 mL·min⁻¹, and UV detection at 220 nm. The tested parameters included mobile phase composition and UV detection wavelength. Good linearities were observed within concentration ranges of Schisandrin A 0.008-4.8 mg·L⁻¹ (r = 0.9996), and Schisandrin B 0.005-3.1 mg·L⁻¹ (r = 0.9994), respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) (S/N = 3) were 0.005 mg·L⁻¹ Schisandrin A and 0.002 mg·L⁻¹ Schisandrin B, respectively. The method was applied to determine the 2 compounds in a traditional Chinese medicine preparation for treatment of hepatic diseases, Huganpian tablet. To eliminate matrix effect, Oasis hydrophilic lipophilic balance (HLB) solid-phase extraction (SPE) was used to purify the ultra-sonicately extracted solution of the drug sample. Combined with the HLB SPE purification procedure, the HPLC method gave satisfactory results for quantitation of Schisandrin A and Schisandrin B in 3 types of Huganpian tablet samples, with spiking recoveries ca. 98% (relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) ≤ 3.5%) (n = 5).