Simultaneous determination of flavonoids and anthraquinones in chrysanthemum by capillary electrophoresis with amperometry detection

A high-performance capillary electrophoresis with amperometry detection method (CE-AD) has been developed for the analysis of flavonoids and anthraquinones (emodin, kaempferol, apigenin, luteolin and rhein) in chrysanthemum. Under optimum conditions, these five analytes were base-line separated within 17 min using a borate–phosphate running buffer (1.5 × 10−2 mol/L borate–3 × 10−2 mol/L phosphate running buffer, pH 9.0) at a working potential of +0.90 V (vs. SCE) and a separation voltage of 19 kV. The linear relationship between concentration and current response was obtained with detection limits (S/N = 3) ranging from 1.0 × 10−7 to 2.1 × 10−7 g/mL for all analytes. This proposed method was successfully used in the analysis of four kinds of chrysanthemum with relatively simple extraction procedures, the assay results were satisfactory.