Abstract: Aim To develop a method for determination of adenosine, rutin and quercetin inCarthamus tinctorius L. by high performance capillary electrophoresis(HPCE). Methods A fused silica capillary (66.5 cm×50 μm ID, an effective length of 58 cm) was used. The running buffer composed of 50 mmol·L^-1 borax (pH 9.7) containing 18% methanol. The applied voltage was 24 kV and the capillary temperature was 20 ℃. The detection wavelength was 210 nm. Rifampicin was used as internal standard. Results A good linearity between peak area ratio of the common peak to the internal standard and the concentration was found in the range of 10-160 mg·L^-1 for adenosine, 100-2 000 mg·L^-1 for rutin and 100-1 600 mg·L^-1 for quercetin (R>0.998). The average recoveries were 98.5%-100.5%, 96.9%-99.5% and 99.1%-99.5% for adenosine, rutin and quercetin, respectively. The relative standard deviation was less than 6.5%(N=5). Conclusion The method is simple, rapid and with satisfactory recoveries and good reproducibilities. It can be used to control the quality of Carthamus tinctorius.