Abstract: A method was established for determining two steroidal saponins (compounds 1 and 2) in Lilium brownii by HPLC for the first time. Separation was achieved by A Shim–pack VP-ODS column (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm ) using acetonitrile and water (containing 0.1% phosponic acid) as the mobile phase with gradient elution at the f1ow rate of 1.0 mL/min, column temperature at 30 ℃ and the wavelength of UV detection was 205 nm. There were good linear correlations between the studied concentrations of the two steroidal saponins and their chromatographic peak areas, and the correlation coefficients were 0.9998-0.9999. The recoveries of two steroidal saponins were 100.59 and 99.97%, respectively. The RSD of precision and accuracy was less than 3%. The determination results of three batch samples showed that the method was simple, accurate and could be used in the quantitative determination of two components in the Lilium brownie.

Key words: Lilium brownii, steroidal saponins, HPLC, quantitative determination