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There are more and more literature reports about the application of Chinese medicine quality constant in the grading evaluation of Chinese medicine decoction pieces. Chinese medicine quality constant has particularly prominent advantages in comprehensive quantification,so it has become a new method and mode for grading Chinese medicine decoction pieces,highly recognized by the academic circle. In order to determine the effect of Chinese medicine quality constant,a method of grades evaluation for Moutan cortex was established in this paper. 15 batches of samples were collected from Chinese herbal slices enterprises to determine the external morphological indexes and inner quality indexes,calculate the Chinese medicine quality constant of Moutan cortex,and divide them into different grades. The results revealed that the range of the relative quality constant of these samples was from 0. 016 to 0. 060,with percentage quality constant from 27. 4 to 100. 0. If these samples were divided into three grades: the quality constant of the first grade should be ≥0. 048 or the percentage quality constant ≥80. 0; the quality constant of the second grade should be0. 048 but ≥0. 030 or percentage quality constant80. 0 and ≥50. 0; the quality constant of the third grade should be0. 030 or the percentage quality constant50. 0. This research indicated that Chinese quality constant can objectively divide grades of Moutan cortex decoction pieces,providing reference for formulating grades standards. It was also verified from the results that traditional quality evaluation of Moutan cortex was consistent with quality constant,and the connotation of percentage quality constant was elaborated as well. At the same time,it is suggested to establish a third-party Chinese medicine slices rating agency as soon as possible,which is to unify the terminology and provide rating services for the market.

Grade evaluation method of quality constant is a kind of grading method for Chinese medicinal materials and decoction pieces,combining the external morphological index and internal content index. This method was used in this paper for grade evaluation of Gardeniae Fructus. By measuring the morphological and content indexes of 14 batches of Gardeniae Fructus,a method for calculating the quality constant of fruits was established,and the grade evaluation criteria were formed. At the same time,the NO inhibition effect of different grades of Gardeniae Fructus samples on RAW264. 7 cells induced by LPS was determined to investigate the relationship between the quality grade and pharmacodynamics of decoction pieces. The results showed that the quality constants of Gardeniae Fructus decoction piece samples ranged from 1. 46 to 4. 42. If the percentage quality constant ≥80% was classified into first-class,50%-80%as second-class and the rest as third-class,the quality constant was ≥3. 54 for first-class,2. 21-3. 54 for second-class and2. 21 for third-class Gardeniae Fructus decoction pieces. The pharmacodynamic results showed that the pharmacodynamic intensity was positively correlated with the grade,which also proved the rationality of the grade evaluation method of quality constant.

Grade of Chinese medicine slices is the most clear and most direct way to characterize the quality of Chinese medicine slices,also the basis of realizing " good quality and good prices",and it can guarantee the industry health development. Therefore,grade evaluation of Chinese medicine slices( GECMS) is highly valued and has grown rapidly in the industry. In recent years,due to the comprehensive and measureable features,the Chinese medicine quality constant evaluation method has been gradually recognized and applied.The paper is to establish a method of grades evaluation of Glycyrrizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparata Cum Melle( GRRPCM) based on the Chinese medicine quality constant. 20 batches of samples were collected from Chinese herbal slices enterprises and 14 batches of qualified samples were selected to determine their external morphological indexes and inner quality indexes,then their Chinese medicine quality constants were calculated and the grades were determined. The results revealed that the relative quality constant of these samples ranged from 0. 70 to 14. 08,with a percentage quality constant from 4. 95 to 100. 00. If these samples were divided into three grades: the relative quality constant shall be ≥11. 27 or percentage quality constant ≥80. 03 for the first grade; the relative quality constant shall be11. 27 but ≥7. 04,or percentage quality constant80. 03 and ≥49. 99 for the second grade; while for the third grade,the relative quality constant shall be7. 04 or the percentage quality constant49. 99. This research indicates that Chinese quality constant can be used to objectively grade the herbal slices,providing reference for grades standard development of complex processing slices. In addition,the connotation of GECMS that has evaluate the mass discrepancy is discussed for expanding application.

This study aims to establish a combinative method based on fingerprint,assay of multi-component and chemometrics for quality evaluation of Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex. Twenty batches of samples were determined by UPLC and a common mode of fingerprint was established. The similarities between fingerprints of 20 batches of samples were over 0. 90 and the common mode were evaluated. Eight components were identified as syringing, magnocurarine, magnoflorine, magnoloside B, magnoloside A, honokiol,magnolol,and piperitylmagnolol by comparison with reference substances and their content in samples were simultaneously determined.Based on the results,the fingerprint had good consistency between the same origin and minor diversity between the different sources.Piperitylmagnolol and peak 13 could be used as a distinction with the different sources. According to content of 8 components,Fisher discriminant analysis model was established and different source sample was classified pursuant to the discriminant fraction. It is indicated that simultaneous quantification of multi components coupled with chemometrics analysis could be a well-acceptable strategy to identify and evaluate the quality of Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex.

Standard decoction of medicinal slices has gradually acquired the height of researcher,government and enterprise for approval. And much consensus are increasingly reached. But there are lots of problem needing further discussing.This article summaries the published literature about standard decoction of medicinal slices in recent 3 years. And clarifies the origin of standard decoction of medicinal slices,explain the definition. The study status of standard decoction was reviewed and further analyzed in detail. And then the application fields of standard decoction of medicinal slices are listed. Combined with the research examples of groups,the problem in the study of standard decoction of medicinal slices was discussed. And relevant suggestions are put forward. All this is expected to provide reference in standard decoction research,the quality criterion o of formula granule and study of classical traditional Chinese medicine( TCM) excellent prescriptions.

A novel and effective chromatographic approach to the separation and purification of isoflavone compounds from Pueraria lobata is described. The method is based on flash chromatography (FC), coupled to preparative high performance liquid chromatography (prep-HPLC) via a six-way valve. The FC step comprised tandem reversed phase columns, pre-packed with MCI gel (Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., Tokyo, Japan) and C18 (Fuji Silysia Chemical Ltd, Osaka, Japan) resin, respectively, and was designed to separate a crude Pueraria lobata extract into several preliminary fractions. Fractions containing the target compounds were then directly injected via the six-way valve into prep-HPLC columns, without further treatment, for final isolation and purification. Nine isoflavonoids were successfully isolated, three through an online mode and the other six through an offline mode. The purities of all compounds exceeded 95.0%, as determined by HPLC with an UV-vis photodiode array detector. The convenience, low solvent consumption, and time-saving advantages of this method offer an attractive and promising approach to the isolation of natural products.

It has been focused on that there will be precipitates when decoction of Scutellariat Radix mixed with Coptidis Rhizoma. Precipitation was derived from interaction between acidic and basic compounds. This study was based on the interaction between active ingredients after compatibility, strived to explore whether it was feasible to judge the qualities of different Scutellariat Radix by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), build a new method established to characterize the qualities of traditional Chinese medicine by taking a series of active ingredients as index. We selected Scutellariat Radix (including three batches of different Scutellariat Radix bought from market and immature Scutellariat Radix which usually was used as adulterant) in different batches as the samples. First, we used ITC to determine the binding heat of the reactions between berberine and the decoctions of different Scutellariat Radix. The test showed that the binding heat of berberine titrated Scutellariat Radix was Scutellariat Radix A (－317.20 μJ), Scutellariat Radix B (－292.83 μJ), Scutellariat Radix C (－208.95 μJ) and immature Scutellariat Radix (－21.53 μJ), respectively. We chose deionized water titrated by berberine (2.51 μJ) as control. The heat change of berberine titrated immature Scutellariat Radix was much less than berberine titrated Scutellariat Radix. Then we determined the absorbance of different decoctions of Scutellariat Radix by UV Spectrophotometry on the maximum absorption wavelength, and the result is： Scutellariat Radix A (0.372), Scutellariat Radix B (0.333), Scutellariat Radix C (0.272), immature Scutellariat Radix (0.124). The absorbance of immature Scutellariat Radix was also less than Scutellariat Radix. The result of ITC assay was corresponded to UV spectrophotometry test. In conclusion, ITC could be used to characterize the quality of Scutellariat Radix. The new method to characterize the qualities of traditional Chinese medicine by taking a kind of active ingredients as index building by ITC was simple, scientific and feasible.

As a traditional Miao-nationality medicinal plant, Polygonum capitatum has been used in clinical practice for several thousand years. Its prescriptions, including three dosage forms: granules, capsule and tablet are known by the brand name Relinqing® and have played an indispensable role in the treatment of urinary system infection, pyelonephritis and kidney stones. However, no study about the comprehensive quality evaluation of Relinqing® has been reported. In the present paper, a method for the simultaneous determination of nine major compounds in three dosage forms of Relinqing® using HPLC coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (HPLC-QQQ MS) was established to comprehensively evaluate their quality. The nine compounds, including four phenolic acids, four flavonoids and a lignin, were analyzed with acceptable linear regression relationship (r2, 0.9923–0.9992), precision (RSD, 1.25%–2.78%), repeatability (RSD, 2.05%%–3.47%), stability (RSD, 1.84%–3.72%) and recovery (93.60%–108.54%, RSD ≤ 3.67%). The present study fills the gap in the multivariate quality control of Relinqing® and provides a valuable reference for quality standards and dosage reforming of this traditional Chinese medicine.

Polygonum capitatum, a traditional Miao medicinal plant, has significant effects on the treatment of urinary system infections and pyelonephritis. However, no study about the comprehensive quality evaluation of P. capitatum has been reported. In this contribution, a rapid and validated method based on HPLC coupled with triple quadrupole MS was established for the simultaneous determination of six active flavonoids, six phenolic acids, and a lignan in extracts of P. capitatum. These compounds were separated within 10 min on a C18 analytical column with gradient elution. All analyses were performed on an Agilent XDB C18 column (2.1 × 100 mm, 3.5 μm) with a linear gradient elution of acetonitrile/water. The proposed method was applied to analyze 15 batches of samples with acceptable linearity (r(2) , 0.9923-0.9992), precisions (RSD, 1.0-3.0%), repeatability (RSD, 2.0-3.2%), stability (RSD, 2.2-3.2%), and recovery (RSD, 2.1-3.6%) of the 13 compounds. These results demonstrated that this presented method was effective and reliable for the comprehensive quality evaluation of P. capitatum. Moreover, our study can provide chemical evidence to reveal the material basis of its therapeutic effects.

A reference extractive, containing multiple active known compounds, has been considered to be an alternative to individual reference standards. However, in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (ChP) the great majority of reference extractives have been primarily used for qualitative identification by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and few studies on the applicability of reference extractives for quantitative analysis have been presented. Using Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge as an example in this paper, we first present a preliminary discussion on the feasibility and applicability of reference extractives for the quantitative analysis of TCMs. The reference extractive of S. miltiorrhiza Bunge, comprised of three pharmacological marker compounds, namely cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I and tanshinone IIA, was prepared from purchased Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge by extraction with acetone under reflux, followed by silica gel column chromatography with stepwise elution with petroleum ether-ethyl acetate (25:1, v/v, 4.5 BV) to remove the non-target components and chloroform-methanol (10:1, v/v, 3 BV) to yield a crude reference extractive solution. After concentration, the solution was further purified by preparative reversed-phase HPLC on a C18 column with isocratic elution with 77% methanol aqueous solution to yield the total reference extractive of S. miltiorrhiza Bunge. Thereafter, the reference extractive was applied to the quality assessment of S. miltiorrhiza Bunge using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with diode array detection (DAD). The validation of the method, including linearity, sensitivity, repeatability, stability and recovery testing, indicated that this method was valid, reliable and sensitive, with good reproducibility. The developed method was successfully applied to quantify seven batches of samples collected from different regions in China and the results were also similar to those obtained using reference standards, with relative standard deviation (RSD) &lt, 3%. Preparation of a reference extractive of S. miltiorrhiza Bunge was significantly less expensive and time consuming than preparation of a corresponding reference standard. Quantitative analysis using a reference extractive was shown to be simple, low-cost, time-saving and practical, with high sensitivity and good stability, and is, therefore, a strong alternative to the use of reference standards.

Two new furostanol saponins, 3-O-[α- l -rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)-β- d -glucopyranosyl]-26-O-β- d -glucopyranosyl-25(R)-furosta-5,22(23)-dien-3β,20α,26-triol (1), 3-O-[β- d -glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-O-α- l -rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-β- d -glucopyranosyl]-26-O-β- d -glucopyranosyl-20(R)-methoxyl-25(R)-furosta-5,22(23)-dien-3β,26-diol (2) were isolated from the Dioscorea panthaica along with five known steroidal saponins (3–7). The structures of the new saponins were determined by detailed analysis of spectral data (including 2D NMR spectroscopy). The inhibitory activities of the saponins against α-glucosidase were investigated, gracillin (4) and 3-O-[α- l -rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-β- d -glucopyranosyl]-26-O-β- d -glucopyranosyl-25(R)-furosta-5,20(22)-dien-3β,26-diol (5) were found to exhibit potent activities with IC50 values of 0.11 ± 0.04 mM and 0.09 ± 0.01 mM.

A new steroidal saponin and three known saponins were isolated from the rhizomes of Dioscorea panthaica. Their structures were elucidated as 3-O-[α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-d-glucopyranosyl]-26-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-20,22-seco-25(R)-furosta-5-ene-20,22-dione-3β,26-diol (1), pregnadienolone-3-O-β-chacotriside (2), pseudoprotodioscin (3), and dioscoreside D (4) mainly by NMR techniques and chemical methods. The inhibitory activities of the saponins against α-glucosidase were investigated, and compound 2 was found to exhibit potent activity with IC50 values of 0.04 ± 0.01 mM.

Fourteen compounds were isolated by column chromatography from the ethyl acetate extract of the seeds of Brassica campestris. Their structures were elucidated by physicochemical properties and spectroscopic data analysis. The isolated compounds were respectively identified as (5Z,7E)-4, 4-dimethyl-5-acetyl-5, 7-nonadienoic acid (1), indole-3-carboxaldehyde (2), blumenol A (3), vinylsyringol (4), sinapinic acid (5), sinapic acid ethyl ester (6), protocatechuic acid (7), crinosterol (8), campesterol (9), 7-oxo-stigmasterol (10), kaempferol (11), 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (12), syringic acid (13) and daucosterol (14). Compound 1 was a new compound and the other compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time except for compounds 4, 5 and 13.

Dioscorea panthaica is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb used in the treatment of various physiological conditions, including cardiovascular disease, gastropathy and hypertension. Steroidal saponins (SS) are the main active ingredients of this herb and have effects on myocardial ischemia and cancer. The phytochemical evaluation of SS is both time-consuming and laborious, and the isolation and structural determination steps can be especially demanding. For this reason, the development of new methods to accelerate the processes involved in the identification, isolation and structural elucidation of SS is highly desirable. In this study, a new ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-IT/MS(n)) method has been developed for the identification of the SS in D. panthaica Prain et Burkill. Notably, the current method can distinguish between spirostanol and furostanol-type compounds based on the fragmentation patterns observed by electrospray ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry (ESI-IT/MS(n)) analysis. UHPLC-IT/MS(n) was used to conduct a detailed investigation of the number, structural class and order of the sugar moieties in the sugar chains of the SS present in D. panthaica. The established fragmentation features were used to analyze the compounds found in the 65% ethanol fraction of the water extracts of D. panthaica. Twenty-three SS were identified, including 11 potential new compounds and six groups of isomers. Two of these newly identified SS were selected as representative examples, and their chemical structures were confirmed by (1)H and (13)C NMR analyses. This newly developed UHPLC-IT/MS(n) method therefore allowed for the efficient identification, isolation and structural determination of the SS in D. panthaica.

To study the chemical constituents, twenty-seven compounds were isolated from the 70% ethanol extract from leaves of Nelumbo nucifera by modern chromatographic techniques. Their structures were identified as 10-octacosanol (1), beta-sitosterol (2), 1-undecanol (3), 1-eicosanol (4), daucosterol (5), 6'-hydroxy-4,4'-dimethoxychalcone (6), 3,7,8-trimethoxy-1-hydroxy-xanthone (7), rhamnetin-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (8), chrysoeriol-7-O-beta-D-glucoside (9), quercetin-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (10), quercetin-3-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl (11), hyperoside (12), quercetin-3-O-rutinoside (13), astragalin (14), isorhamnetin-3-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1--6)-[alpha-D-lyxopyranosyl-(1 --2) -beta-D-glucopyranoside] (15), isorhamnetin-3-O-alpha-D-lyxopyranosyl-(1 --2) -beta-D-glucopyranoside (16), isorhamnetin-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (17), isorhamnetin-3-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 --6)-beta-D-glucopyranoside (18), quercetin (19), kaempferol (20), dehydronuciferine (21), roemerine (22), stigmast-7-en-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (23), stigmast-7-en-3beta-ol (24), and benzene-1,2-diol (25) on the basis of spectral data analysis. Compounds 1, 6, 7, 8, 24 and 25 were isolated from this plant for the first time, and compounds 15-18 were isolated from the leaves for the first time. Compounds 6, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 15 showed inhibitory activities against beta amyloid (1-42) by A-beta aggregation method with inhibition rates of (63.99 +/- 24.29)%, (79.61 +/- 4.49)%, (49.96 +/- 12.61)%, (101.19 +/- 8.19)%, (88.41+/-6.76)% and (72.48 +/- 8.97)%, respectively.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the reference extraction method for determining five components contained in Pueraria labta decoction and detecting the applicability and feasibility of the application of reference extracts according to the quality standard of traditional Chinese medicine. METHOD: Zorbax C18 chromatographic column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) was used, with methanol-0.02% phosphoric acid (25:75) as the mobile phase and the detection wavelength was set at 250 nm. Self-prepared reference extracts of P. labta was used for determining the content of 3'-hydroxy puerarin, puerarin, 3'-methoxy puerarin, isoflavoues aglycone-8-C-apiose-(1--> 6) glucoside and daidzin and compare with the experimental results obtained with the single reference substance determination method. RESULT: The reference extraction determination method showed high precision, stability and reproducibility, with coincident determination results with the results obtained with the single reference substance determination method. CONCLUSION: The reference extraction determination method of P. labta can be used for quality control of P. labta herbs. The study preliminarily proves the feasibility of the application of P. labta in traditional Chinese medicine.