Chromatographic Fingerprint Analysis of Exocarpium Citri Grandis by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Diode-Array Detector

A newly validated HPLC fingerprint method has been developed for the identification and quality assessment of Exocarpium Citri Grandis. Twenty-three batches of Exocarpium Citri Grandis collected or purchased from different localities in China were investigated. The analyses were conducted on a Diamonsil C-18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5-mu m particle) preceded by a Diamonsil C-18 guard column (10 mm x 4.6 mm, 5-mu m particle). Mobile phases were composed of 0.5 % acetic acid (A) and methanol (B), with a flow rate of 1 mL/min under a gradient elution. The wavelength was set at 254 nm. The common fingerprint profile was established with professional analytical software. Common peaks were further identified using LC-DAD-MS/MS. Chemometric methods including similarity calculation and hierarchical clustering analysis were performed to differentiate the 23 batches of Exocarpium Citri Grandis samples. Fifteen batches of samples had a high similarity (more than 0.9) and the overall 23 batches of samples were divided into two clusters. This method presented good precision, repeatability, and stability; therefore, it would be a reliable and useful approach for the quality control of Exocarpium Citri Grandis.