Analysis of major constituents in Fructus aurantii-Magnolia bark decoction by UPLC-PDA.

A ultraperformance liquid chromatography (UPLC)-photodiode array (PDA) detection method was established for the simultaneous determination of seven constituents in Fructus aurantii-Magnolia bark decoction: naringin, hesperidin, neohesperidin, narirutin, meranzin hydrate, honokiol and magnolol. These were separated in <17 min using a C18 column with gradient elution using (a) acetonitrile, (b) water and (c) acetic acid at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min, and with a PDA detector. All calibration curves showed good linear regression (r(2) > 0.9992) within the test ranges. The method was validated for specificity, accuracy, precision and limits of detection. The proposed method was found to be suitable for the quality assessment of the formula.