Determination of 9(10H)‐Acridone by HPLC with Fluorescence Detection

Abstract

Acridone alkaloids are important bioactive compounds found mainly in the Rutaceae family. An easy to use, rapid, and accurate high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with fluorescence detection was developed for determination of 9(10H)‐acridone. The HPLC assay was performed on a reversed phase C₁₈ column with a gradient of methanol in the water as the mobile phase, and eluent flow rate of 1.0 mL min⁻¹. The wavelengths of excitation and emission were 395 and 435 nm, respectively. The linear relationship between the peak area and the 9(10H)‐acridone concentration with the correlative coefficient of 0.999 was observed. This method is highly sensitive with a detection limit of 0.67 ng mL⁻¹ (S/N=3), and comparison of the 9(10H)‐acridone content in the citrus roots among four varieties proved that it is suitable for the detection of acridone in plant tissues.

Keywords:

• Column liquid chromatography
• Reversed phase
• Fluorescence HPLC
• Qualification
• Quantification
• Acridone

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the 111 project (B06014) and the Span project of State Agriculture Ministry (No.2004‐17).