Abstract Yanlishuang Pills is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine used to treat pharyngitis widely. In this study, we used gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to establish a method for the fingerprint and quantitative analysis of the four major components of Yanlishuang Pills, which can provide a more reliable method for its quality control. We used the software “Chromatographic Fingerprint Similarity Evaluation System for Traditional Chinese Medicine”, version A, 2004, to obtain fingerprint using the averaging method with a time width of 0.1. The peak with the largest peak area was used as the reference peak to determine the shared peaks and generate the common pattern. Then the main components of the Yanlishuang Pills were identified and their contents were determined in GC-MS SIM mode using internal standard method.The fingerprint established by GC-MS were reproducible, and a total of 18 common peaks were identified in the fingerprint of 13 batches of samples, and the similarity of the fingerprint of each batch of samples was above 0.99. The concentrations of camphor, menthone, borneol and menthol of the four main ingredients of the Yanlishuang Pills were linearly well within the range of 25.13-150.78 μg/mL (r = 0.9995), 28.77-172.62 μg/mL (r = 0.9991), 299.70-1798.20 μg/mL (r = 0.9997), 121.98-731.88 μg/mL (r = 0.9997), and the average recoveries were 102.02% (RSD of 1.3%), 96.10% (RSD of 1.0%), 102.71% (RSD of 1.3%), 102.58% (RSD of 1.1%), respectively, with good precision, reproducibility, and stability within 16 h. The camphor content of the 13 batches of samples was 5.6025-8.3662 mg/g, menthone content was 4.7871-5.8936 mg/g, borneol content was 88.0034-133.0969 mg/g and menthol was 40.2017-61.9466 mg/g. The fingerprints of the Yanlishuang Pills established by GC-MS were characterized by a common pattern, and the simultaneous determination of camphor, menthone, borneol and menthol in the Yanlishuang Pills was rapid, simple and accurate. In conclusion, the determination of the content of multiple ingredients combined with fingerprinting can provide a more comprehensive control of the quality of Yanlishuang Pills.

Abstract: Blumea balsamifera is a very famous medicinal plant and functional tea in many countries of Asia. Ainaxiang tablets are a preparation consisting of flavonoids from B. balsamifera. Today, a high performance liquid chromatography method was developed for simultaneous quantification of 15 flavonoids in Ainaxiang Tablets. The analysis was performed on a Kromasil C18 column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) with a binary gradient mobile phase of acetonitrile and 0.2% aqueous acetic acid. The method was validated in terms of linearity, sensitivity, stability, precision and accuracy. It was found that this method had linearity with R2 at 0.9992- 0.9999 in the test range of 0.15-276.40 µg/mL. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for 15 tested reference compounds were 0.01-0.28µg/mL and 0.02 - 0.55µg/mL, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSD%) for intra-day and inter-day repeatability were not more than 3.18%. The analyzed samples were stable for at least 18 h. The spike recoveries for 15 analyzed samples were 106.17 - 95.02%. The results suggested that this newly developed HPLC method could be used for quantitative analysis of flavonoids in Ainaxiang Tablets and its raw materials.

Abstract Rosa roxbughii Tratt (RRT) is a welcome medicinal and edible fruit with unique functions and nutrients in China. In the past decades, extensive research including chemical constituents and bioactivities of RRT were reported. A total of small 78 small molecules, such as flavonoids, organic acid, triterpenes, etc. and 11 polysaccharides have been isolated from RRT. Its antioxidant, anti-tumor and other pharmacological effects were also discovered. This paper reviews the progress of those information for the R&D of RRT in the future.

Abstract Dendrobium nobile is a traditional Chinese medicine and functional food in China, containing phenanthrene, alkaloids, bibenzyl, sesquiterpenes, polysaccharides and other chemical components, with anti-aging, immunity-enhancing, glucose-lowering and lipid-lowering health functions. In recent years, the research value of D. nobile has attracted the attention of more and more experts and scholars. This paper reviews the chemical constituents isolated and identified from D. nobile and provides reference for further development and utilization of D. nobile.