Chromatographic fingerprint analysis of Toosendan Fructus by HPLC-CAD coupled with chemometrics methods

A new method was developed for the chromatographic fingerprint analysis of Toosendan Fructus by HPLC coupled with the charged aerosol detector (CAD) in the present study. Samples were well separated on an Agilent ZOBAX SB C₁₈ column (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm) by gradient elution using acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% formic acid (v/v) at the flow rate of 1.0 mL·min^-1. The column temperature was 30℃ and the injection volume was 5 μL. The nitrogen inlet pressure of the charged aerosol detector (CAD) was 35 psi, and the nebulizer chamber temperature was 35℃. In addition, the method of the chromatographic fingerprints combined with multivariate statistical analysis was effective and reasonable lead to an accurate classification of 20 batches of samples from different locations. The results showed that 28 common peaks were observed in the fingerprint and the samples were classified into three clusters. The established method was well validated, and showed high precision, good repeatability, and satisfactory stability. It may serve in the quality control and evaluation of Toosendan Fructus.