Method development and validation for simultaneous HPLC analysis of six active components of the Chinese medicine Qin-Bao-Hong antitussive tablet

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method coupled with photodiode array (PDA) detection has been developed and validated for simultaneous analysis of six active components (syringin, hyperoside, baicalin, quercetin, baicalein, and farrerol) of the Chinese medicinal preparation Qin-Bao-Hong antitussive tablet. The optimum conditions for separation were achieved on a 3.9 mm × 150 mm i.d., 5-μm particle, C 18 column with a linear mobile phase gradient prepared from acetonitrile and 1% acetic acid at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min -1 . Because of the different UV characteristics of these compounds, four detection wavelengths were used for the quantitative analysis (265 nm for syringin, 256 nm for hyperoside and quercetin, 277 nm for baicalin and baicalein, and 296 nm for farrerol). For all the analytes a good linear regression relationship ( r > 0.999) was obtained between peak area and concentration over a relatively wide range. The method was validated for repeatability, precision, stability, accuracy, selectivity, and robustness. The validated method was successfully applied to simultaneous analysis of these active components in Qin-Bao-Hong antitussive tablet from different production batches.