DETERMINATION OF COPTISINE, BERBERINE AND PALMATINE IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS BY CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS

A capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of coptisine, berberine and palmatine in traditional Chinese medicinal preparations was established. The buffer solution used in this method was 0.2 M sodium acetate solution-acetonitrile (1:1). The linear calibration range was 0.003-0.128 mg/ml (r = 0.9998) for coptisine, 0.016-0.640 mg/ml (r = 0.9999) for berberine and 0.006-0.240 mg/ml (r = 0.9999) for palmatine. The recovery was 98.1-101.9% for coptisine, 98.0-100.4% for berberine and 99.7-101.0% for palmatine. The relative standard deviation was 0.96% (intraday) and 2.56% (interday) for coptisine, 1.50% (intraday) and 2.68% (interday) for berberine and 1.12% (intraday) and 2.22% (interday) for palmatine. This method is simple, rapid and reproducible. The contents of these three alkaloids in 23 Coptidis Rhizoma- and/or Phellodendri Cortex-containing Chinese medicinal preparations could easily be determined within 8 min without any pretreatment or any inference.