Determination of Total Anthraquinone and Free Anthraquinone in Different Processed Products of Rhubarb

[Objectives]The content of total anthraquinone and 5 free anthraquinones in different processed products of rhubarb were determined.[Methods]Using emodin as the reference,the concentration of 1%magnesium acetate methanol solution was used for color development,and the absorbance was measured at 516 nm wavelength;the mobile phase was methanol-0.1%phosphoric acid(76∶24)aqueous solution,the detection wavelength was set at 256 nm,the flow rate was 1.0 mL/min,the column temperature was 30℃,and the sample size was 10μL.[Results]The content of total anthraquinones in rhubarb was determined by UV spectrophotometry.The linear range was 0.98-23.52μg/mL,R2=0.9993,the average recoveries were 100.12%,99.66%and 99.15%,with RSDs of 1.58%,0.94%and 1.41%,respectively.The linear ranges of emodin,emodin,emodin,chrysophanol and emodin methyl ether were 0.0207-0.414(R2=0.9999),0.1721-3.442(R2=0.9996),0.0203-0.406(R2=0.9999),0.148-2.96(R2=0.9998)and 0.164-3.28(R2=0.9993),respectively.[Conclusions]The contents of total anthraquinones and free anthraquinones in different processed products of rhubarb were determined by UV spectrophotometry and HPLC.The method can be used for quality control of rhubarb and its different processed products.