Quantitative determination of four compounds and fingerprint analysis in the rhizomes of Drynaria fortunei (Kunze) J. Sm.

A rapid, sensitive, and accurate reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection method was developed for both quantitative determination of four compounds (caffeic acid-4-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, 5,7-dihydroxychromone-7-O-rutinoside, neoeriocitrin and naringin) and fingerprint analysis of the rhizomes of Drynaria fortunei (Kunze) J. Sm. The chromatographic separation was accomplished on an MZ-C18 column (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 μm) using gradient elution with acetonitrile and 0.02% aqueous acetic acid, at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min⁻¹, an operating temperature of 25°C, and a wavelength of 260 nm. The four compounds showed good regression relationship (R ² > 0.9990) within linear ranges, and their recoveries were in the range of 98.11–102.23%. In the chromatographic fingerprint, thirteen common peaks were found and selected as characteristic peaks to assess the consistency of ten batches of the rhizomes of D. fortunei. The results indicate that the method of multiple compounds determination in combination with chromatographic fingerprint analysis is suitable for systematic quality evaluation of D. fortunei.