Flos Carthami (FC), the dried flower of Carthamus tinctorius L., has widely been used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in China. A rapid fingerprint analysis method of FC was established by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) for the quality control. The analysis time was shortened by 45 min, from 75 min on conventional high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to 30 min on UPLC. Ten batches of FC samples from various sources were analyzed by the UPLC method. Coexisting peaks in FC chromatograms were chosen to calculate their relative retention time (RRT) and relative peak area (RPA). Thirteen characteristic peaks were illustrated on UPLC fingerprints. In the 24-h stability test, the relative standard deviation (RSD) for the RRT and RPA was <0.08% and 4.41%, respectively. The RSD for precision of the RRT and RPA was <0.05% and 4.26%, respectively. And the RSD for repeatability was <0.05% for the RRT and 3.91% for the RPA. The similarities of the 10 batches of FC were ranged from 0.938 to 0.995.Compared with the HPLC method, UPLC provided shorter analysis time, higher resolution and better separation performance, which is feasible for the quality control of FC.
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