Quantitative analysis of betaine in Lycii Fructus by HILIC-ELSD

A rapid and simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) was developed for the determination of betaine from Lycii Fructus. Betaine was separated with an Atlantis hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography silica column (4.6 × 150 mm, 5 μm, 100 Å) by isocratic elution using 30 mM ammonium acetate buffer and acetonitrile (20:80, v/v %) as the mobile phase. The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min, and the temperature for the spray chamber and drift tube was set at 30 and 50 °C, respectively. The method was fully validated with respect to linearity, precision, accuracy, stability and robustness. The HPLC/ELSD method was applied successfully to the quantification of betaine in the extract of Lycii Fructus. The HPLC analytical method for pattern recognition analysis was validated by repeated analysis of twenty-six L. barbarum L. from China (BC01–BC26), 3 L. barbarum L. (BJ27–BJ29) from Japan, 12 L. chinense Miller from China (CC30–CC41) and 51 L. chinense Miller samples (CK42–CK92) from Korea. The results indicate that the established HPLC/ELSD method is suitable for quality evaluation of Lycii Fructus.