Quality Assessment of Saponins from Aerial Parts of Panax quinquefolium L. by LC-ELSD Fingerprints and LC Quantitative Analysis

A simple, rapid and valid fingerprint method has been carried out for the quality control of saponins from aerial parts of Panax quinquefolium L, by using ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD). A standard fingerprint was constructed from ten batches of Panax quinquefolius saponins from different geographic locations to evaluate batch-to-batch consistency. Ten chromatographic peaks were selected as characteristic peaks and their relative peak areas were calculated for quantitative expression of the UPLC fingerprints. Furthermore, the amounts of five main components (Pseudoginsenoside- F₁₁, Ginsenoside Rb₂, Ginsenoside Rb₃, Ginsenoside Rd, Ginsenoside Re) were determined simultaneously to evaluate and control quality of Panax quinquefolius saponins.

Table 1 The contents of five marker compounds and similarity analysis of different batches from Jilin province (%), repeat times (n=2)

Samples	Ginsenoside Re (%)	Pseudoginsenoside- F11 (%)	Ginsenoside Rb2 (%)	Ginsenoside Rb3 (%)	Ginsenoside Rd (%)
1	11.97	13.05	6.84	25.49	19.73
2	12.01	13.02	4.81	18.26	18.54
3	13.09	10.21	5.29	16.53	14.89
4	14.96	16.08	4.26	14.87	17.63
5	10.43	14.52	5.94	21.05	14.28
6	9.14	13.16	5.40	19.82	12.67
7	8.79	10.98	6.04	24.64	15.96
8	13.41	14.72	6.23	23.89	16.68
9	8.44	12.74	5.54	21.78	14.33
10	8.82	13.32	5.23	20.28	12.68

Fig.1. Standard UPLC-ELSD fingerprints of Panax quinquefolius saponins2=Ginsenoside Rg₁; 3=Ginsenoside Re; 6=Pseudoginsenoside- F₁₁; 7=Ginsenoside Rb₂; 8=Ginsenoside Rb₃; 9=Ginsenoside Rd.

Table 2 Relative retention time of common peaks of Panax quinquefolius saponins from Jilin province

Samples	Peaks
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8(S)	9	10
S1-S10	0.0442 0.0445	0.3416 0.3447	0.3628 0.3661	0.5951 0.5960	0.6251 0.6265	0.7155 0.7162	0.9782 0.9792	1	1.0531 1.0549	1.1889 1.1951
RSD (%)	0.19	0.26	0.28	0.05	0.06	0.03	0.03	0	0.07	0.15