Simultaneous Determination of Seven Active Flavonols in the Flowers of Abelmoschus manihot by HPLC

A high-performance liquid chromatography method is developed for the simultaneous quantification of seven flavonols, namely quercetin-3-O-robinobioside, hyperin, isoquercetin, hibifolin, myricetin, quercetin-3′-O-glucoside, and quercetin, in the flower of Abelmoschus manihot. These seven flavonols are selected as chemical markers because they are the major pharmacologically active constituents in the flower. The method involves the use of a Thermo ODS-2HYEPRSIL reversed-phase column (5 µm, 250 × 4.6 mm) at 25°C with a mixture of acetonitrile and aqueous H3PO4 as the mobile phase and detection at 370 nm. The recovery of the method is 94.31–107.08% with an RSD ≤ 3.14% and the linearity (r2 > 0.9996) is obtained for all the flavonoids. The current assay method can be readily utilized for the determination of the flavonols present in the flower and is considered to be suitable for the quality control of A. manihot samples. The comparison of flowers collected from nine locations shows that flavonoid glucoside is more stable than aglycon in the flower. This is the first study that analyzes the stability of flavonoids in the flower of A. manihot. This research also provides important evidence that the flower is a potentially abundant resource for obtaining hibifolin.