Selection and fingerprints of the control substances for plant drug Eucommia ulmodies Oliver by HPLC and LC–MS

Eucommia ulmodies Oliver (E. ulmodies) has been used as herbal medicine for thousands years in China. The selection of the control substances and their fingerprints of this plant medicine were investigated by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). The gradient elution mode was applied in chromatographic separation, and the data was analyzed by “Computer Aided Similarity Evaluation” software to compare the similarity of the E. ulmodies from different habitats. Low similarity was found in the samples from nonadjacent provinces, while high similarity was obtained in those from the adjacent provinces. The LC–MS fingerprints of E. ulmodies showed the main active constituents and could be used for its original identification and quality evaluation.