Abstract: A method of hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) was established for the quantitative determination of trigonelline in Trigonella foenum-graecum L. HILIC analysis was performed on a Waters Atlantis HILIC Silica column (150 mm×2.1 mm, 3 μm). The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-ammonium acetate (pH 4.4) (70:30, v/v), and the flow rate was 0.4 mL/min. The detection wavelength was set at 265 nm. The method has good linearity in the range of 2.50~100 mg/L for trigonelline (r=0.9996). The recoveries were on an average of 102%by adding 29.2 mg/L and 43.8 mg/L with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 4.17% and 2.28% (n=3), respectively. The results indicate that the method is simple and rapid for the determination of strong polar trigonelline in Trigonella foenum-graecum L. Furthermore, it significantly reduces the equilibration time compared with ion-pair liquid chromatography (IPLC) recorded in the Pharmacopoeia of China. This new method can be used as a valid method for the quality control of Trigonella foenum-graecum L.

Key words: traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) , Trigonella foenum-graecum L., trigonelline, hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC)