Chinese J. of Today’s Pharm. 22 (11), 690-692 (2012). Qufengjiangu tablets are a herbal TCM for the treatment of waist and knee pain and rheumatic arthralgia. For quality control, TLC on silica gel 1) for Radix Angelicae Pubescentis, with cyclohexane – ethyl acetate – formic acid – glacial acetic acid 70:20:2:3, detection under UV 366 nm; 2) for Radix Notoginseng and Radix Dipsaci, with n-butanol – ethyl acetate – 10 % diluted ammonia 4:1:5, detection by spraying with 10 % sulfuric acid in ethanol and heating at 105 °C, viewing in daylight; 3) Herba Taxilli, with toluene saturated with water – ethyl formate – formic acid 5:4:1, detection by spraying with 5 % aluminium chloride in ethanol and heating at 105 °C, viewing under UV 366 nm. Quantification of osthole by HPLC.

Chinese J. of Med. Guide 2 (9), 109-110 (2012). Coptis chinensis is a herbal TCM drug for relieving internal heat or fever. High speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) is frequently applied to analyse the alkaloids of Coptis chinensis. To optimize the solvent system of HSCCC the method for determination of the partition coefficient of Coptis chinensis alkaloids was done by TLC and fluorescence spectrophotometry. The major alkaloids are coptisine, berberine, palmatine and epiberberine. The crude drug was extracted with ethanol and contained 9.2 % coptisine, 18.5 % berberine, 4.0 % palmatine and 3.5 % epiberberine. TLC on silica gel with cyclohexane – ethyl acetate – isopropanol – methanol – water – triethylamine 6:7:2:3:1 with chamber saturation for 20 min with ammonia vapors, detection at UV 366 nm. The zones were quantitatively scraped off the layer and eluted with ethanol for fluorescence spectrophotometry at UV 366 nm. Quantification by external standard calibration over the linearity range of 0.5-2.5 g/L for coptisine, berberine and epiberberine with standard addition recovery of 98.3 % (%RSD = 1.9 %, n=6), 95.3 % (%RSD = 3.4 %, n=6), 103.9 % (%RSD = 2.6 %, n=6), respectively; and 1.0-3.0 g/L for palmatine with standard addition recovery of 97.6 % (%RSD = 3.7 %, n=6). Calculation of the partition coefficient, i.e. the ratio of observed values of the analytes from the two phases, respectively, with the results for coptisine 2.20, berberine 0.29, palmatine 0.21 and epiberberine 0.61.

Chinese J. of Lishizhen Trad. Med. & Pharm. 22 (3), 620-621 (2011). Superpressure jet flow processing technology has been recently applied in puffing of some traditional Chinese medicinal herbs like Aconitum carmichaeli Debx. The effect of the technology on the traditional Chinese medicinal preparations containing Aconitum carmichaeli Debx was studied by determination of the content change of the active components. TLC of the extracts before and after superpressure jet flow processing on silica gel with chloroform – acetone – methanol 6:1:1. Detection by spraying with 5 % potassium iodobismuthate solution and evaluation under UV 366 nm. Identification of aconitine by comparison with the standards.

J. Chromatogr. A 1260, 232-238 (2012). Presentation of a new RP-HPTLC method for the separation of pyrazinamide, isoniazid, rifampicin and ethambutol in a four fixed-dose combination tablet formulation by detection of pyrazinamide, isoniazid and rifampicin at UV 280 nm firstly, and then derivatization and detection of ethambutol at 450 nm after RP-plate development. Evaluation of methanol, ethanol and propan-1-ol as the modifiers to form alcohol-water mobile phases. Systematic optimization of the composition of each alcohol in the mobile phase by using the window diagramming concept to obtain the best separation. Examination of the Rf distribution of the separated compounds indicated that separation of the compounds with the mobile phase containing ethanol at the optimal fraction situated within the optimal hRf-values region of 20-80, thus ethanol was selected as the organic modifier and the optimal mobile phase composition was found to be ethanol – water - glacial acetic acid - 37 % ammonia 70:30:5:1.

Chinese J. Mod. Drug Appl. 6 (9), 124-125 (2012). Danbaijing capsules are a herbal TCM for treating intractable proteinuria. For quality control, TLC on silica gel 1) for Radix Astragali and the standard astragaloside A, with chloroform – methanol – water 13:7:2, detection by spraying with 10 % sulfuric acid in ethanol and heating at 105 °C, viewing in daylight; 2) for Centella asiatica and the standard asiaticoside, with chloroform – methanol – water 14:6:1, detection by spraying with 10 % sulfuric acid in ethanol and heating at 105 °C, viewing in daylight.

J. Strait Pharm. 24 (9), 53-55 (2012). Huoxiang Qushu Soft capsules are an approved herbal TCM preparation used for promoting perspiration, reducing internal heat, regulating spleen and stomach. For quality control, TLC on silica gel 1) for Herba Pogostemonis, with petroleum ether (30-60 ºC) – ethyl acetate – glacial acetic acid 85:15:1, detection by spraying with 5 % ferric chloride in ethanol and heating at 105 °C, viewing in daylight; 2) for Radix Angelicae Dahuricae, with petroleum ether (30-60 ºC) – diethyl ether 3:2, detection under UV 366 nm; 3) for Folium Perillae, with ethyl acetate – methanol – formic acid – water 18:1:2:1, detection by spraying with 10 % sulfuric acid in ethanol and heating at 105 °C, viewing under UV 366 nm; 4) for Rhizoma Atractylodis, with petroleum ether (30-60 ºC) – acetone 9:2, detection by spraying with 10 % sulfuric acid in ethanol and heating at 105 °C, viewing in daylight; 5) for Rhizoma Pinelliae Preparatum, with petroleum ether (30-60 ºC) – ethyl acetate – acetone – formic acid 60:12:10:1, detection under UV 254 nm; 6) for Poria, with toluene – ethyl acetate – formic acid 40:10:1, detection by spraying with 2 % vanillin in sulfuric acid – ethanol 1:200 and heating at 105 °C, viewing in daylight; 7) for Radix Glycyrrhizae, with ethyl acetate – formic acid – glacial acetic acid – water 15:1:1:2, detection by spraying with 10 % sulfuric acid in ethanol and heating at 105 °C, viewing under UV 366 nm.

J. Planar Chromatogr. 26, 331-335 (2013). HPTLC of betulinic acid in the bark and leaves of Dillenia indica, Dillenia pentagyna, Ziziphus jujube and Ziziphus mauritiana on silica gel with toluene - chloroform - ethanol 4:4:1. Detection by dipping into anisaldehyde - sulfuric acid reagent, followed by heating at 80 ºC for 15 min. Quantification by absorbance measurement at 525 nm. The hRf of betulinic acid was 71. Linearity was in the range of 100-1200 ng/zone. LOD and LOQ were 4 and 11 ng/zone, respectively. Recovery was in the range of 99.5-101.7 %. Intermediate/interday/intra-day precision was below 2 %.

J. Planar Chromatogr. 26, 502-507 (2013). TLC of metal dithiocarbamates: antimonic(III) dipentyldithiocarbamate (1), zinc dipentyldithiocarbamate (2), zinc dibutyldithiocarbamate (3), ferric(III) dipentyldithiocarbamate (4) and lead(II) dipentyldithiocarbamate (5) on RP-18 with 2-propanol - water 10:1. Detection by spraying with sodium azide 2 % - potassium iodide 0.01 M - starch solution 1 % pH 6.0 and exposure to iodine vapour for 15 s. Linearity for compounds (1) to (5) ranged 100-2000, 50-1000, 50-1000, 50-1000 and 100-3000 pmol/zone, respectively. LOD was in the range of 10 pmol/zone for the compounds.