Determination of Triterpene Glycosides in Sea Cucumber (Stichopus japonicus) and Its Related Products by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

A creative and sensitive method has been developed for the determination of triterpene glycosides concentrations in sea cucumber (Stichopus japonicus) and related products by using d-quinovose (6-deoxyglucose) as the measurement standard by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and variable-wavelength detection. d-quinovose, which is a unique monosaccharide in holostane triterpene glycosides, was liberated by acid hydrolysis and precolumn derivatized by 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (PMP). PMP−quinovose was analyzed by HPLC with 22% acetonitrile in 0.05 M KH2PO4 aquatic solution (pH 5.2) as mobile phase. The calibration curves of d-quinovose were linear within the range of 6.56−164 mg/L (r 2 > 0.995). The contents of triterpene glycosides in various S. japonicus products were determined after appropriate pretreatment methods. The concentration of triterpene glycosides was calculated by the formula C = C qui × α (α = 8.5). The result showed that this method was a simple, rapid, and stable method for the determination of triterpene glycosides in S. japonicus products.