Analysis of Cordyceps by multi-column liquid chromatography.

Cordyceps is a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that has been used in China for hundreds of years. In the present study a multi-column liquid chromatography (MC-LC) system was developed for the qualitative analysis of macromolecules and micromolecules in Cordyceps. The MC-LC system includes a size exclusion pre-column, a size exclusion column (SEC) and a reversed phase column (RP) which were controlled by column-switching valves. The sample was separated by the size exclusion pre-column into two fractions (macromolecules and micromolecules). These fractions were further separated on SEC and RP columns, respectively. A diode array detector (DAD) and a mass spectrometer (MS) were used to detect the components. This MC-LC method was utilized for analysis of Cordyceps samples. Two macromolecular peaks and 15 micromolecular peaks were found in Cordyceps, and 11 of the micromolecular peaks were identified as adenosine-5'-monophosphate (AMP), phenylalanine, uridine, hypoxanthine, inosine, guanine, guanosine, deoxyadenosine-5'-monophosphate (dAMP), adenosine, adenine and cordycepin (or its isomer). This method is useful for quality control of Cordyceps.