Rapid simultaneous quantification of fructooligosaccharides in Morinda officianalis by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography

Many Chinese herbal medicines with tonifying effects contain high levels of inulin fructooligosaccharides. These herbal medicines have high development and utilization value because of their effects against dementia, depression, and oxidative stress; on improving learning and memory ability; and on enhancing immunity. In this study, a method was developed for the separation and simultaneous quantitation of fructose, glucose, sucrose, and ten inulin fructooligosaccharides by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection within 10 min. Separation was performed on an Amide column with gradient elution. The calibration curves for the 13 constituents showed good linearity (R² > 0.9991). The limits of detection and quantification were 10.78-33.44 and 35.94-124.81 μg/mL, respectively, and the recoveries ranged from 98.90 to 103.67%. This method was successfully used to quantify the 13 constituents in the Chinese herbal medicine Morinda officinalis. The contents of the ten inulin fructooligosaccharides ranged from 56.28 to 60.71%. This method is accurate, rapid and simple and can be used for quantitative analysis in the quality control of herbal medicines and functional foods.