Quality assessment of Cinnamomi Ramulus by the simultaneous analysis of multiple active components using high-performance thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography

A novel and improved method for the quality assessment of Cinnamomi Ramulus was developed and completely validated. The method was established using fingerprint technology and simultaneous quantitative determination of six main marker compounds including coumarin, cinnamic alcohol, cinnamic acid, 2-methoxy cinnamic acid, cinnamaldehyde, and 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde in the herbal medicine for the first time. A newly developed high-performance thin-layer chromatography method, which achieved simultaneous definition of five marker components by comparing the colors and retardation factor values of the bands in high-performance thin-layer chromatography, was first used for the authentication of Cinnamomi Ramulus. The fingerprints of 26 batches of herbal samples from different regions of China showed very similar chromatographic patterns that were evaluated by similarity analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis. In addition, sixmarker compounds were simultaneously determined using single standard to determine multiple components by the relative response factors. Compared with the external standard method, the new quantitative method was validated to determine multiple compounds in 26 batches of Cinnamomi Ramulus samples. All results demonstrated that the simple and rapid method could be effectively utilized for the quality control of Cinnamomi Ramulus.