A Rapid Method for the Analysis of Ten Compounds in Psoralea corylifolia L. by UPLC

The objective of this study was to develop a simple, efficient and reliable method for routine quantitative analysis for Psoralea corylifolia L. An ultra performance liquid chromatography with DAD detector system was employed for simultaneous quantification of ten compounds. The chromatographic analysis was performed by UPLC with C18 column and gradient elution of 0.05% formic acid aqueous solution and acetonitrile in 16 min. All calibration curves were linear (R 2 ≥ 0.9990) over the tested ranges. The LOD and LOQ were lower to 13.07 and 39.22 ng mL−1 with 2 μL of injection volume, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precisions as determined from sample solutions were below 4.1 and 4.2%. The average recoveries were ranged from 94.2 to 108.8% with RSDs ≤ 4.6%. This validated method was applied for the analysis of ten analytes in P. corylifolia L. from different origins. The variation of the content of ten compounds was remarkable among the tested samples: psoralenoside increased from 7.42 to 17.04 mg g−1, isopsoralenoside from 6.05 to 14.34 mg g−1, psoralen from 2.37 to 3.90 mg g−1, isopsoralen from 2.53 to 3.65 mg g−1, neobavaisoflavone from 1.59 to 2.96 mg g−1, bavachin from 1.02 to 2.35 mg g−1, psoralidin from 0.45 to 1.91 mg g−1, isobavachalcone from 1.33 to 4.71 mg g−1, corylifol A from 1.02 to 2.40 mg g−1 and bakuchiol from 28.10 to 63.89 mg g−1.