Abstract:

The contents of four alkaloids, peimisine, sipeimine-3β-D-glucoside, peimine, and peiminine, in bulbs of
Fritillaria taipaiensis and Fritillaria unibracteata commercialized with different names were determined by high
performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that the main chromatographic peaks of alkaloids in all
the investigated bulb samples of F. taipaiensis and F. unibracteata were similar but with significant differences in their
relative abundances. The contents of peimisine, sipeimine-3β-D-glucoside, peimine, and peiminine were 0.153 6–0.231 0,
0.060 2–0.140 8, 0.029 5–0.044 7 and 0.006 7–0.019 1 mg/kg in Fritillaria taipaiensis bulbs, and 0.021 5–0.024 1, 0.058 7–
0.074 4, 0.065 8–0.0814 mg/kg and at an undetectable level, respectively. All these alkaloids in Fritillaria taipaiensis bulbs
exhibited a downward trend with growing age following the decreasing order: Huashengdabei, Huashengxiaobei ＞ Dajian,
Zhongjian, Xiaojian ＞ Songjian. The Fritillaria taipaiensis samples investigated in this study contained slightly higher
levels of the four alkaloids than the Fritillaria unibracteata samples despite having chemical consistency.

Key words: Fritillaria taipaiensis, Fritillaria unibracteata, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), alkaloid;rapid determination