[Determination of major components in Psoralea corylifolia L. by using supercritical fluid extraction (SFE)]

A method based on SFE and CGC has been developed for qualitative and quantitative analysis of major components in Psoralea corylifolia L.. The orthogonal design method and the analysis of variance are used to optimize the five variables (temperature, pressure, volume of modifier, static extraction time and CO2 dynamic extracting volume) of SFE and the optimized conditions listed as follows: temperature 70 degrees C, pressure 38.5 MPa, static extraction 1 min, dynamic extraction 7 mL and 60 microL CHCl3 as modifier. The recoveries of psoralen and isopsoralen are 96.93% (RSD 1.87%) and 98.43% (RSD 2.06%) respectively. Being compared with conventional methods, the SFE as an alternative technique for sample preparation will be most useful in the quality control of Chinese traditional medicines.