Simultaneous separation and determination of praeruptorin A, B and C by micellar electrokinetic chromatography using sodium dodecyl sulphate and sodium cholate as mixed micelles

Introduction Praeruptorin A, B and C are major bioactive constituents in Peucedani Radix. They display anti‐inflammatory effect, anti‐hypertension effect, antiplatelet aggregation, potential anti‐cancer activities and so on. They are worthy of investigation as potentially novel and versatile drugs. Objective To develop a method using micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) for the application in simultaneously separation and determination of praeruptorin A, B and C from Peucedani Radix and its medicinal preparations. Methods Method optimisation was carried out by investigating influences of significant factors on the separation. The method was subjected to validation. The determination of praeruptorin A, B and C in Peucedani Radix and its drug formulations was accomplished by the developed method. Results The optimal separation condition was 20 mM borate buffer containing 40 mM sodium cholate (SC), 22 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and 25% (v/v) acetonitrile (pH 10.00); 15 kV of voltage; 25°C of temperature; detection at 224 nm. Under this condition, three analytes were baseline separated within 16 min. A good linearity was obtained with correlation coefficients from 0.9988 to 0.9995. The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantitation (LOQs) ranged from 0.50 to 0.80 μg/mL and from 1.50 to 2.50 μg/mL, respectively. The recoveries ranged between 95.3% and 103.4%. Conclusion The proposed method has been successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of praeruptorin A, B and C in Peucedani Radix and its pharmaceutical preparations. Additionally, it could be a potential alternative to the quality control of Peucedani Radix. A micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method using sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and sodium cholate (SC) as mixed micelles was presented for the separation and determination of angular‐type pyranocoumarins (praeruptorin A, B and C). The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of praeruptorin A, B and C in Peucedani Radix and its Chinese patent medicine preparations. Additionally, it could be a potential alternative to the quality control of Peucedani Radix.