Comparative study of the composition of TCM Radix notoginseng extract samples before and after acetylation with UV and ELSD detection.

Objective: To study the derivation, acetylation specifically, as well as the application of evaporative light-scattering detector (ELSD) detection of Panax notoginseng extract for a better understanding of its components, as well as to study the authentication of this Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Methods: Acetonitrile-water gradient elution of the samples was used for the analysis and the ultraviolet (UV) detection used to observe the difference between the extract samples before and after acetylation. Mobile phases containing 30% and 85% acetonitrile, respectively, were used to observe the differences between chromatograms of the samples obtained using UV and ELSD detection.