[HPLC fingerprint of chemical constituents of Flos Farfarae].

This paper is aimed to establish the method of fingerprint analysis of chemical constituents by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) with diode array detector (DAD) for the quality control of the flower buds of Tussilago farfara L. (Flos Farfarae). The method was performed on a Dikma Diamonsil C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm ID, 5 gim) with a mixed mobile phase of 0.03% trifluoroacetic acid solution and acetonitrile in a gradient mode. The flow rate was 1.0 mL x min(-1) and the wavelength of measurement was 240 nm. Ten batches of the Flos Farfarae were determined. The HPLC chromatographic fingerprint of chemical constituents was established from the 10 batches of the Flos Farfarae and showed 25 characteristic common peaks, among which 16 peaks were recognized and 18 compounds (adenosine, uridine, gallic acid, 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, trans-caffeic acid, phthalic acid, rutin, hyperoside, 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, kaempferol-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, isoferulic acid, ferulic acid, quercetin, 2,2-dimethyl-6-acetyl chromanone, dibutylphthalate, tussilagone, 7beta-(3'-ethylcrotonoyloxy)-1alpha-(2'-methyl-butyryloxy)-3,14-dehydro-E-notonipetranone) were determined by comparison with chromatographic behaviors and UV spectra of the authentic compounds. The 10 batches of samples were classified as 2 clusters by cluster analysis and 6 samples were confirmed to establish the mutual model. The samples' quality was assessed by Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of TCM (2004 B version). The convenient and high specific method can be used to identify and evaluate the quality of the Flos Farfarae.