Abstract: We developed a simple and rapid method for determining ferulic acid in Ligusticum chuanxiong rhizomes.Ferulic acid was extracted from the samples using methanol and analyzed using reversedphase high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC).The extract was chromatographically separated using an Agilent 1100 series HPLC system with a Waters Symmetry C₁₈ column and isocratically eluted with a mixture of acetonitrile and 1% aqueous acetic acid(32:68,v/v).The effluent was monitored using a VWD detector set at 321 nm.The average recovery rates ranged from 96.88% to 99.75%(n=3).The limit of detection was 0.0043 μg/mL and the limit of quantification was 0.0128 μg/mL.The method has been successfully applied to analyze L.chuanxiong samples.The ferulic acid content of 38 samples varied from 0.41 mg/g to 3.12 mg/g.

Key words: ferulic acid, HPLC, Ligusticum chuanxiong, quantitative determination, method validation