Fingerprint analysis and multi-ingredient quantitative analysis for quality evaluation of Xiaoyanlidan tablets by ultra high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection

A rapid and sensitive ultra high performance liquid chromatography method with diode array detection was developed for the fingerprint analysis and simultaneous determination of seven active compounds in Xiaoyanlidan (XYLD) tablets. The chromatographic separations were obtained on an Agilent Eclipse plus C-18 column (50 x 2.1 mm id, 1.8 mu m) using gradient elution with water/formic acid (1%) and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Within 63 min, 36 peaks could be selected as the common peaks for fingerprint analysis to evaluate the similarities among several samples of XYLD tablets collected from different manufacturers. In quantitative analysis, seven compounds showed good regression (R > 0.9990) within test ranges and the recovery of the method was within the range of 95.9-104.3%. The method was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of seven compounds in six batches of XYLD tablets. These results demonstrate that the combination of chromatographic fingerprint analysis and simultaneous multi-ingredient quantification using the ultra high performance liquid chromatography method with diode array detection offers a rapid, efficient, and reliable approach for quality evaluation of XYLD tablets.