Simultaneous Determination of the Content of Shikimic Acid in Pine Trees from Different Varieties, Origins, and Parts by HPLC.

In this study, HPLC was used to determine the content of shikimic acid in pine trees from different varieties, origins, and parts, in order to provide reference for its further development and application. HPLC test was performed on a 30 °C Agilent Eclipse Plus C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 µm), with the mobile phase comprising of methanol/0.1% phosphoric acid solution (10:90,V/V), and the detection wavelength was set at 217 nm. The differences in the content of shikimic acid were analyzed by visual analysis and cluster analysis methods. The results showed that shikimic acid was linearly good (r=0.999 5), with the average recovery rate of 100.4%(n=6) and the RSD of 1.71%. The content of shikimic acid was in six pine trees from high to low was Cedrus deodara (Roxb) G. Don, Pinus armandi Franch., Pinus bungeana Zucc. ex Endl., Pinus tabulaeformis Carr., Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Kuzen., and P. sylvestris var. mongolica Litv., in which C. deodara pine needles from Tianshui had the highest content at 31.47 mg/g. The shikimic acid in six pine trees can be divided into three categories by cluster analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]