Objective: To establish the chromatographic fingerprint for Chaihu Longgu Muli Tang and n-butanol extraction by RP-HPLC-DAD. Method: HPLC method was applied to establish the chromatographic fingerprint. The separation was performed on a Thermo Fisher Hypersil GOLD C18 column with a gradient elution composed of acetonitrile and 0.1% phosphoric acid. The column temperature was 35 ℃ and the flow rate was 1.0 mL·min-1. The detective wavelength was 276

210 nm. Result: The common pattern of chromatographic fingerprint of Chaihu Longgu Muli Tang and n-butanol extraction was established

and 4 peaks of them were identified respectively. In decoction

the 8th

12th

14th and 15th peaks were assigned to baicalin

cinnamic acid

cinnamaldehyde and rhein respectively by comparison with the retention times and UV spectra of reference substances. The 16th

17th

28th and 29th peaks were assigned to ginsenoside Rg1

ginsenoside Re

saikosaponin a and saikosaponin b2 respectively of n-butanol extraction. The similarity of 10 batches of Chaihu Longgu Muli Tang and n-butanol extraction were all more than 0.88. Conclusion: The established HPLC fingerprint of Chaihu Longgu Muli Tang has desirable precision

reproducibility

and can provide a basis for quality evaluation of Chaihu Longgu Muli Tang.