DETERMINATION OF PSORALEN AND ISOPSORALEN IN PSORALEA CORYLIFOLIA L. BY SUPERCRITICAL FLUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

AIM: To establish a supercritical fluid chromatographic (SFC) method for determination of the coumarin compounds, psoralen and isopsoralen, in Psoralea corylifolia L., the influence factors on SFC were investigated. METHODS: Psoralen and isopsoralen were extracted from Psoralea corylifolia with modified supercritical carbon dioxide. The SFC system consists of a NH₂ column (150 mm×1 mm×3 μm) with carbon dioxide containing 5% methanol and UV 247 nm detection. The optimized column temperature and pressure were 40℃ and 27.6 MPa, respectively. RESULTS: The composition of mobile phase was shown to have the greatest influence on retention and selectivity with suitable stationary phase. The recoveries of psoralen and isopsoralen are 96.9% (RSD=1.8%) and 95.1% (RSD=1.6%) respectively. CONCLUSION: SFC, combined with supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), can be used to analyze coumarin compounds.