Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of neomangiferin, mangiferin, timosaponin BIII, anemarrhenasaponin I and timosaponin AIII in the products of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge. processed by different methods. By comparing and analyzing the variation of the contents of the five components, the effects of processing on chemical constituents of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge. were explored, which provided evidences for the relevance between processing and the property changes of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge. The chromatographic separation was performed on an AlltimaTM C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm) with a gradient elution of acetonitrile (A) and 0.1% formic acid (B) (0~10 min, 5%A~20%A; 10~15 min, 20%A~25%A; 15~30 min, 25%A~80%A; 30~35 min, 80%A~100%A) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. Neomangiferin and mangiferin were detected by an ultraviolet detector at 265 nm and room temperature. Timosaponin BIII, anemarrhenasaponin I and timosaponin AIII were detected by an evaporative light scattering detector with the drift temperature at 50 ℃ and gas pressure at 179.1 kPa (26 psi). To some extent, the contents of the major components varied in different processed products of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge. The results indicated that different processing methods caused significant differences in the contents of the major components of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge. It is of great use for further researching the relevance of the processing methods to pharmacodynamics of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge.

Key words: Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge., anemarrhenasaponinI, mangiferin, neomangiferin, processing, timosaponin AIII, timosaponin BIII, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)