The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the major bioactive components in traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) and their preparations is essential to evaluate their quality. However, the scarcity and high cost of chemical reference standards are common obstacles for quantitative analysis, especially for determining multicomponents. In this study, an effective and sensitive qualitative method to identify flavonol glycosides in Ginkgo leaves (Ginkgo Folium), and their preparations have been developed. Meanwhile, a simple, convenient and reproducible method for the quantitative analysis of multicomponents by a single marker (QAMS) has been established to simultaneously determine the major flavonol glycosides in Ginkgo leaves and their preparations. Among the 15 favonol glycosides that were found, 7 major flavonol glycosides with high contents were simultaneously determined by the QAMS and traditional external standard method (TES). Rutin was selected as the single marker, and the quantitative analysis was performed on a TSK gel ODS-100V C18 column using a gradient system of acetonitrile and water, with a variable wavelength detector (265 nm) within 50 min. The method validation was conducted, and the linearity was excellent (r(2) > 0.9993) with accuracy and precision within the required limits. The F-test (P> 0.05) indicated that the QAMS and TES method have no statistically significant difference.
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