Simultaneous determination of sixteen ginsenosides in Panax ginseng and its preparation by HPLC

Objective In order to evaluate the quality of Panax ginseng and its preparation, a simple and accurate HPLC method for determining the contents of 16 ginsenosides from P. ginseng was established. Methods The chromatographic separation was achieved on a C18 column(150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) using a mobile phase made up of acetonitrie and water at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The detection wavelength and column temperature were set as 203 nm and 35 ℃, respectively. Results Sixteen ginsenosides(Rg1, Re, Rf, Rb1, Rg2, Rc, Rb2, Rb3, F1, Rd, F2, Rg3, protopanaxatriol, compound K, Rh2, and protopanaxadiol) were separated at baseline with good linearity(r ≥ 0.999 0). The recovery rates were 95%—102%(RSD 2%). Conclusion The method is simple, fast, accurate, and could be applied to the quality control of P. ginseng and its preparation.