A method first developed to determinated of lupeol (a novel anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer dietary triterpene) contained in 46 kinds of common medicinal plants in Taiwan was established. The samples were analyzed by HPLC on a Thermo ODS-C18 Column (250 × 4.6 mm，5 μm) and detected at 210 nm with acetonitrile water (99:1, v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The regression equations of diosgenin was Y = 4.612 X - 9.118 (R = 0.999). The intraday and interday relative standard deviations of lupeol were at the levels of 1.34-3.87% and 0.47-2.38%, respectively. percent recovery values of lupeol were at the levels of 89.00-103.42%. Detection limit was 50 μg/mL based on a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1. The method was applied to 46 samples and lupeol was detected in 5 samples, measurable at 192.4 mg/g contained in Acanthopanax trifoliatus (sequential extracts of n-hexane), 29.3 mg/g contained in Elephantopus mollis (sequential extracts of n-hexane), 1.4 mg/g contained in Elephantopus mollis (methanol extracts), 10.1 mg/g contained in Pellionia radicans (methanol extracts), 609.0 μg/g (Dry weight) contained in Taraxacum officinale root。In conclusion, this study had shown that the HPLC method could be applied successfully to analyze lupeol contained in common medicinal plants. Therefore, an easy and suitable method for the detection and assay of lupeol was established.
