Liquid chromatographic separation of alkaloids in herbal medicines: Current status and perspectives

Abstract

Alkaloids are a widespread group of basic compounds in herbal medicines and have attracted great interest due to various pharmaceutical activities and desirable druggability. Their distinctive structures make chromatographic separation fairly difficult. Peak tailing, poor resolution, and inferior column-to-column reproducibility are common obstacles to overcome. In order to provide a valuable reference, the methodologies and/or strategies on liquid chromatographic separation of alkaloids in herbal medicines proposed from 2012 to 2019 are thoroughly summarized.

Keywords: alkaloids; hydrophilic interaction chromatography; mixed-mode liquid chromatography; reversed phase liquid chromatography; two-dimensional liquid chromatography.