Determination of tropane alkaloids by heart cutting reversed phase – Strong cation exchange two dimensional liquid chromatography

•A heart cutting RP-SCX 2DLC method was optimized for determining tropane alkaloids.•The developed method provided more accurate measurement of tropane alkaloids than 1DLC method.•It offered a good precision (0.82–1.54%) and recovery (94.1–105.2%).•It was sensitive (LOD: 0.067–0.115mgL−1 and LOQ: 0.195–0.268mgL−1).•It was broadly applicable with the potential for the quantitative assessment of tropane alkaloids in herbal medicines and herbal medicine tablets. Current Chinese Pharmacopoeia (ChP) standards apply liquid extraction combined with one dimensional liquid chromatography (1DLC) method for determining alkaloids in herbal medicines. The complex pretreatments lead to a low analytical efficiency and possible component loss. In this study, a heart cutting reversed phase – strong cation exchange two dimensional liquid chromatography (RP – SCX 2DLC) approach was optimized for simultaneously quantifying tropane alkaloids (anisodine, scopolamine and hyoscyamine) in herbal medicines and herbal medicine tablets without further treatment of the filtered extract. The chromatographic conditions were systematically optimized in terms of column type, mobile phase composition and flow rate. To improve peak capacity and obtain symmetric peak shape of alkaloids, a polar group embedded C18 column combined with chaotropic salts was used in the first dimension. To remove the disturbance of non-alkaloids, achieve unique selectivity and acquire symmetric peak shape of alkaloids, an SCX column combined with phosphate buffer was used in the second dimension. Method validation was performed in terms of linearity, precision (0.54–0.82%), recovery (94.1–105.2%), limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of the three analytes varied between 0.067–0.115mgL−1 and 0.195–0.268mgL−1, respectively. The method demonstrated superiority over 1DLC method in respect of resolution (less alkaloid co-eluted), sample preparation (no pretreatment procedure) and transfer rate (minimum component loss). The optimized RP – SCX 2DLC approach was subsequently applied to quantify target alkaloids in five herbal medicines and herbal medicine tablets from three different manufactures. The results demonstrated that the developed heart cutting RP – SCX 2DLC approach represented a new, strategically significant methodology for the quality evaluation of tropane alkaloid in related herbal medicines that involve complex chemical matrix.