Simultaneous chemical fingerprint and quantitative analysis of Ginkgo biloba extract by HPLC–DAD

A reverse-phase liquid chromatography method with diode array detection was developed to evaluate the quality of Ginkgo biloba extract through establishing chromatographic fingerprint and simultaneous determination of eight flavonoid compounds, namely rutin, myricetin, quercitrin, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, apigenin, and isorhamnetin. The chromatographic separation was performed on an Agilent SB-C18 column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5.0 µm) with a gradient elution program using a mixture of methanol and 0.1% formic acid (v/v) as mobile phase within 55 min at 360-nm wavelength. The correlation coefficients of similarity for different batches of G. biloba extract from the same manufacturer and G. biloba extract from different manufacturers were determined from the LC fingerprints, and they shared a close similarity. The eight flavonoid compounds showed good regression (R2 > 0.9995) within test ranges, and the recovery of the method was in the range of 94.1–101.4%. In addition, the content of those eight flavonoid compounds in G. biloba extract prepared by different manufacturers of China was determined to establish the effectiveness of the method. The results indicated that the developed method by having a combination of chromatographic fingerprint and quantification analysis could be readily utilized as a quality control method for G. biloba extract and its related traditional Chinese medicinal preparations.