Simultaneous Determination of Cephaeline and Emetine in Ipecac and Its Preparations Using RP-HPLC

ObjectiveTo control the quality of ipecac and its preparations, and to investigate the simultaneous quantitative determination of cephaeline and emetine.MethodsAfter ultrasonic extraction with acidic methanol solution or direct diluting preparations, cephaeline hydrochloride and emetine hydrochloride in ipecac and its preparations were separated within 20 min using a mixture of acetonitrile-methanol-0.1% phosphoric acid (9:3:88) as the mobile phase on a C18 column by HPLC. UV detector was set at 205 nm. The flow rate was set at 1.0 mL/min.ResultsThe methodological study showed that a good linear correlation existed in the range of 0.014 560.2184 μg (r = 0.999 97) for cephaeline hydrochloride and 0.0321—0.321 μg (r = 0.999 97) for emetine hydrochloride, respectively. The average recovery of cephaeline hydrochloride and emetine hydrochloride was 96.93% and 99.47%, and the RSD values (n = 9) were 1.31% and 2.02%, respectively.ConclusionThe assay is sensitive, accurate, specific, and applicable to comprehensive evaluation on the quality of ipecac and its preparations.