Simultaneous determination of three alkaloids in Huangbo using an ionic liquid as a mobile phase additive in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method for the simultaneous determination of jatrorrhizine, palmatine, and berberine in Huangbo, the dried bark of Chinese Corktree, was established by using 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tertafluoroborate as a mobile phase additive. The chromatographic behavior of the three compounds on the C-18 column was studied with four different types of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids as the mobile phase additives. The effect of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tertafluoroborate was the best in the four investigated ionic liquids. The concentration of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tertafluoroborate and the pH of the mobile phase, which influenced the chromatographic behaviors of the three bioactive compounds, were investigated. The linearity, precision, accuracy, repeatability, limit of detection, and quantification of the proposed method were found to be satisfactory. To explain the role of ionic liquids as the mobile phase additives, the possible mechanism was also explored and discussed.