Objective: To establish HPLC fingerprint of Chaenomelis Fructus and compare HPLC fingerprints of different processed products.
Methods: The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-methanol (7:3) (A) and 0.03% phosphoric acid(B) in a gradient mode. Flow rate was 0.8 mL/min. The wavelength was set at 300 nm and column temperature was 30 degrees C. The HPLC chromatograms were analyzed by the "traditional Chinese medicine fingerprint similarity calculation software".
Results: The results of methodological study met technical requirements of HPLC fingerprint. Ten batches of samples were divided into three groups by hierarchical cluster analysis and the similarities exceeded 0.90. The HPLC fingerprints of different processed products had obvious differences in area of common peaks but less differences in number of common peaks.
Conclusion: The HPLC fingerprint method is stable, accurate and reliable and can be used for scientific quality control of Chaenomelis Fructus. The processing temperature and processing materials have effect on the dissolution of chemical compositions in Chaenomelis Fructus.