Abstract
A HPLC-UV method was developed and validated for determination of stemokerrine and oxystemokerrine in Stemona kerrii roots. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Hypersil BDS C18-column eluted with methanol: 50 mM ammonium acetate solution using a gradient system with a flow rate of 1 mL/min and detection at 300 nm. Stemokerrine and oxystemokerrine showed a linear relationship within the range of 0.5-100 μg/mL. The method was shown to be precise with a RSD <2%. The average percent recovery of stemokerrine was 101.6% and for oxystemokerrine 99.5%. Two samples of S. kerrii were analyzed and the average contents of stemokerrine and oxystemokerrine were 0.2 and 0.05%, w/w, respectively. The present work will provide a useful standardization method for S. kerrii raw materials for further pharmaceutical development.