Objective: To identify Spatholobi Caulis extract with thin layer chromatography(TLC) and determine total content of catechin and epicatechin in it with high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)

in order to provide a reference for the quality control of Spatholobi Caulis. Method: TLC was put into effect with 0.7% sodium carboxymethylcellulose(CMC-Na) silica gel G as adsorbent

chloroform-acetone-(n -butanol)-methanol-formic acid(67:13:14:3:3) as developing solvent and 5% vanillin sulfuric acid solution as chromogenic agent.HPLC was carried out with the Kinetex C18 column(4.6 mm×250 mm

5 μm) and methanol-0.02% phosphoric acid water solution as mobile phase to perform gradient elution;the flow rate was 1.0 mL·min-1

the column temperature was 25℃

the injection volume was 5 μL

and the detection wavelength was 280 nm. Result: In the TLC

the color and shape of the extract spots were the same as those of catechin and epicatechin references at the corresponding positions

and those spots were clear and well separated.In the quantitative analysis of HPLC

catechin and epicatechin had good linear relationships in the range of 9.9-198.8 mg·L-1 and 20.6-412.4 mg·L-1

respectively;and their correlation coefficients were all 0.999 9. The average recoveries of catechin and epicatechin was 98.12% and 97.94% with RSD of 1.7% and 1.4%

respectively. Conclusion: The TLC established in this experiment has strong specificity and good separating degree.The HPLC which was used to determine total content of catechin and epicatechin in the extract has high accuracy and good repeatability.The established methods can be used to control quality of Spatholobi Caulis extract.