Abstract:

An ultra performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection method (UPLC-DAD) has
been established for rapid and simultaneous determination of 14 illegally added aphrodisiacs (nor-acetylsildenafil,
acetildenafil, vardenafil, hydroxyhomosildenafil, sildenafil citrate, homosildenafil, amino tadalafil, tadalafil, thioaildenafil,
pseudovardenafil, norneosildenafil, stanozolol, testosterone propionate, and nandrolone phenylpropionate) in anti-fatigue and
immunity promoting functional foods. ZORBAX SB-C18 column was applied with mobile phase A consisting of acetonitrilemethanol
(90:10, V/V) and phase B consisting of 0.7% triethylamine (pH 2.8). Linear gradient elution was used with a flow
rate of 0.35 mL/min and detection wavelength of 230 nm for rapid screening and quantification of these drugs. Characteristic
absorption spectral library of 14 aphrodisiac drugs have been established for identifying them. The results showed that the
14 aphrodisiac drugs could be effectively separated within 15.0 min, and the standard curves had good linearity over the
concentration range of 8–80 μg/mL. The correlation coefficients were all above 0.999 5. The average recoveries ranged
from 90.1% to 106.5% with relative stand deviations (RSDs) of 0.7%–4.9%. The detection limits for the 14 aphrodisiacs
drugs ranged from 2 to 3 ng. These results indicate that the method is simple and rapid with high sensitivity and good
reproducibility, and suitable for the rapid and simultaneous determination of the 14 illegally added aphrodisiac drugs in antifatigue
and immunity-improving health foods.

Key words: health food, aphrodisiacs drugs, illegally added, rapid determination, ultra performance liquid chromatographyphotodiode array detector (UPLC-DAD)