A simple and rapid method based on microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) followed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) was developed for the quantification of eight isoquinoline alkaloids in Chelidonium majus L. (Ch. majus). The key parameters affecting CE separation and MAE extraction were investigated and optimized. Complete separation of eight alkaloids was achieved within only 9 min using a 500 mM Tris-H(3)PO(4) buffer (pH 2.5) containing 50% (v/v) methanol and 2mM HP-β-cyclodextrin. The optimal MAE extraction was performed at 60 °C for 5 min with methanol-water-HCl (90:10:0.5, v/v/v) as the extracting solvent, which gave much higher extraction efficiency in significantly shorter time than conventional heat reflux extraction (HRE) and ultrasonic extraction (USE) methods. Good linearities were obtained for all the alkaloids investigated with correlation coefficients above 0.9994. The repeatability and intermediate precision were less than 4.11% and the recoveries ranged from 98.0% to 103.9%. The developed method was successfully applied to 14 Ch. majus samples obtained from different regions of China. Compared with previously reported methods, the present method offers a dramatic savings in overall analysis time and considerable reduction in solvent consumption.
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