[Studies on quality control methods of nuxvomica]

Two quality control methods of nuxvomica were established for mutual. By selecting the appropriate measuring wavelength or wavelength range, the contents of strychnine and brucine in nuxvomica were determined without any preliminary separation by a new rapid spectrophotometry and a multi-wavelength linear regression spectrophotometry and with a computer program. The linear range of strychnine measured was 8.0-30.0 microg x mL(-1) (r = 0.999 9); The linear range of brucine measured was 7.0-31.2 microg x mL(-1) (r = 0.999 4). The average recoveries and relative standard deviations of strychnine and brucine were 98.18%-99.82%, 0.56%-1.54% and 100.5%-100.6%, 0.57%-0.62%, respectively. The methods are simple, rapid and reproducible, the interference of two components with each other may be eliminated and the methods are appropriate for quality control of nuxvomica.