Abstract:

An efficient high performance capillary electrophoresis (CE) method has been successfully developed for the
determination of flavonoids in buckwheat. The running buffer contained 10 mmol/L Na2B4O7-NaH2PO4, at pH 9.3, the
detection wavelength was set at 218 nm and a voltage of 25 kV was applied. Under these conditions, four flavonoids, i.e.,
picatechin, rutin, kaempferd and quercetin, could be fully separated from each other within seven minutes. The linear ranges
were 0.03 to 0.54, 0.05 to 0.97, 0.03 to 0.63, and 0.04 to 0.90 mg/mL, respectively, with correlation coefficients between
0.992 3 and 0.998 7 and the limits of detection (LOD) were 5.33 × 10﹣6, 1.80 × 10﹣5, 2.51 × 10﹣5 , and 1.24 × 10﹣5 mg/mL,
respectively (RSN = 3). The average recoveries were between 95.5% and 104.7%, with a relative standard deviation (RSD)
less than 3.66%. This method is convenient to operate, accurate, efficient and suitable for the simultaneous detection of
flavonoids in buckwheat.

Key words: high performance capillary electrophoresis, flavonoids, buckwheat