Determination of flavonoids in Hypericum perforatum by HPLC analysis.

To establish an HPLC method for simultaneous determination of four flavonoids in Hypericum perforatum L., ruitn, hyperin, avicularin and quercetin. C18 column was used, the chromatography was carried out with a linear gradient program. The mobile phase was A: H2O (pH 3.0-3.5 adjusted with phosphoric acid) and B: acetonitrile, at flow rate of 1.0 mL.min-1, peaks were detected at 254 nm. The linear range of rutin was 1.376-8.256 micrograms.mL-1 (gamma = 0.9999), hyperin 3.160-18.960 micrograms.mL-1 (gamma = 0.9996), avicularin 0.968-5.808 micrograms.mL-1 (gamma = 0.9998) and quercetin 0.776-4.656 micrograms.mL-1 (gamma = 0.9993). The average recovery of rutin was 97.8%, RSD 4.8% (n = 3), hyperin 100.7%, RSD 3.7% (n = 3), avicularin 97.3%, RSD 0.8% (n = 3) and quercetin 100.5%, RSD 4.4% (n = 3). All of RSDs of precision were less than 2% (n = 5), reproducibilities less than 3%. The method is simple, effective and feasible. It can be used to determine flavonodis in Hypericum perforatum.