HPLC ANALYSIS OF THE ACTIVE INGREDIENTS OF FORSYTHIA SUSPENSA

Forsythia suspensa is a widely used traditional Chinese herb. Because of the need toevaluate its quality,a HPLC method was developed to analyze the active ingredients in its fruits andleaves.One g of powdered plant material was cold macerated over-night with 10 ml of methanol addedthen supersonic extracted for 20 min. Four ml of the extract were mixed with 1 ml of water,centrifuged (400×g, 15 min),and then analyzed by HPLC with a Nucleosil C-18 column. The mo-bile phase for gradient elusion consisted of MeOH(containing 1% tetrahydrofuran) and H₂O (contain-ing 0. 01 mol/L KH₂PO₄,pH 3. 2) and monitored by UV absorption at 280 nm. The identity and puri-ty of the peaks were checked by photodiode array detector and in comparison with standards. By thisprocedure, the active constituents caffeic acid, rutin, forsythoside A, forsythin, and forsythigenin wereseparated successfully,and the quantity of each compound was determined by peak area. Some fruit samples obtained from various sources and the leaf sample made as tea were analyzedby this method.