[Determination of xanthones in Swertia mussotii and Swertia franchetiana by high performance liquid chromatography]

A simple and rapid method for simultaneous separation and determination of xanthones in Swertia mussotii and Swertia franchetiana by high performance liquid chromatography has been established. The analysis was performed on a Kromasil C18 column (250 mm x 4.60 mm i.d., 5 microm) (at 20 degrees C) eluted with methanol and 0.1% aqueous phosphoric acid (73: 27 in volume ratio) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and with UV detection at 260 nm. Results showed that xanthones were separated successfully from each other and from other interfering components. There was a good linear relationship between the content of component and its peak area for each xanthone, with the correlation coefficients of 0.999 2 - 0.999 9. The convenient method can be used for quantitative analysis of xanthones.