Simultaneous determination of four tanshinones in Salvia miltiorrhiza by QAMS

To establish a new method and validate its feasibilities for quality evaluation of Salvia miltiorrhiza.Four main effective components, dihydrotanshinone I, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I and tanshinone II(A), were selected as analytes to evaluate the quality of S. miltiorrhiza. The relative correction factors (RCF) of tanshinone II(A) to the other three tanshinones were calculated. The method was evaluated by comparison of the quantitative results between external standard method and QAMS method.No significant differences were found in the quantitative results of four tanshinones by external standard method and QAMS method.It is a convenient and accurate method to determine multi-components when some authentic standard substances were unavailable. It can be used to control the quality of S. miltiorrhiza.