A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method with pulsed amperometric detection for the determination of glycosides

We have developed a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography pulsed amperometric detection (RP-HPLC-PAD) method for the determination of glycosides. It is sensitive, repeatable, and selective without the pretreatment step. Ginsenosides were separated completely in 50 min using an water–acetonitrile gradient as the eluent and detected by PAD under NaOH alkaline conditions. The ginsenoside detection limit (S/N = 3) was 0.02–0.07 ng and the quantification limit (S/N = 10) was 0.1–0.2 ng. The coefficient of linear regression was 0.9984–0.9998 for concentrations between 1 and 50 μg/mL. The intra- and inter-day precision (RSD) was less than 6.35% in Ginseng Radix and Shy-jiun-tzyy-tang extracts. The average recoveries from Ginseng Radix and Shy-jiun-tzyy-tang extracts were 98.19–105.45% and 96.89–102.22%, respectively.