Abstract: The analysis of chemical components of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) is one of the most critical issues not only for screening and analyzing the bioactive components but also for controlling their quality. However, due to the complexity of the chemical constituents of CHMs, it is difficult to separate them on column within a short time. In the recent, the fast and ultra performance liquid chromatography, including ultra high pressure liquid chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography based on the monolithic columns and high temperature liquid chromatography, are of particular interest because of the high resolution and fast analytical speed provided by these techniques. This overview covers the principle and separation characteristics of these techniques, as well as their applications in Chinese herbal medicines.

Key words: analysis of Chinese herbal medicines , high performance liquid chromatography based on the monolithic columns, high temperature liquid chromatography, ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography, fast and ultra performance liquid chromatography