Abstract: To establish a sensitive and specific HPLC method of controlling the quality of mulberry, the HPLC column, mobile phase, elution mode (isocratic or gradient) and gradient program were optimized to obtain high quality HPLC profile. The HPLC system contained a pump (WATERS 600) and a 996 photodiode-array detector (DAD). Data were acquired and processed by the Millennium 2010 workstation. HPLC analysis was performed on a Hypersil ODS (5μm,250×4.0 mm) with mixture of H 2 O-methanol, 1.25% ice acetic acid(pH=3)-methanol, 0.05%phosphate acid (pH=3)-methanol, 0.05% phosphate(pH=3) -acetonitrile as mobile phase in gradient mode. The proper mobile phase was determined as 0.05%phosphate acid (pH=3)- methanol, and the concentrations were CH 3 OH%:15-15-70-70 at Min:0-15-50-55min , respectively. The column temperature was kept constant at 30℃ and the flow-rate was 1.0 ml/min. The HPLC chromatographic fingerprinting of mulberry showed 22 characteristic peaks. The chromatographic fingerprinting of mulberry with high specificity could be used to control its quality and assure lot to lot consistency.

Key words: mulberry, HPLC, fingerprints, gradient elution