Abstract: The effective component of eight Chinese herbs are extracted and pyrogallol autoxidation is adopted to determine the antioxidant failure performance of these herbs.Detection wavelength is 319 nm,time 5min,pyrogallol concentration 4.5 mM and buffer pH 8.2,with IC₅₀ value concentration as the evaluation index.Experimental results show that different Chinese herbs have different antioxidant ability with dose-effect relationship.Their antioxidant order is as follows:hawthorn〉chrysanthemum〉ginkgo biloba 〉licorice〉angelica〉wolfberry〉fleeceflower root〉rhodiola.

Key words: natural ingredients, pyrogallol, antioxidant failure, IC₅₀ value