Objective: To develop the accurate and rapid method for determination of jatrorrhizine

palmatine

berberine

tetrahydropulmatine and protopine in Corydalis Decumbentis Rhizoma by microemulsion liquid chromatography(MELC). Method: The mobile phase was microemulsion that was optimized by inspecting the influence factors of separation and retention time. The optimized microemulsion was 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate-0.5% noctyl alcohol-4% nbutanol-phosphate buffer (pH was adjusted by phosphoric acid to 4.0). Sinochrom ODS-BP Chromatography columns(4.6 mm×250 mm

5 μm) was selected

with the column temperature of 25 ℃. The contents of five alkaloids in Corydalis Decumbentis Rhizoma were determined simultaneously at a flow rate of 0.8 mL·min-1

and the detection wavelength was 280 nm. Result: Under the optimized conditions

baseline separation of five alkaloids was achieved in 20 min

and the resolution is well. The calibration curves of jatrorrhizine

palmatine

berberine

tetrahydropulmatine and protopine were linear in the ranges of 0.800 9-16.01

0.800 9-16.01

0.200 2-4.004

8.013-160.3 and 12.09-240.7 mg·L-1

respectively

with correlation coefficients of 0.999 5.Their limits of detection (LOD

S/N=3) were 0.201

0.254

0.053

1.27 and 1.05 mg·L-1

respectively.The spiked recoveries of three compounds ranged from 97.34% to 99.51%. Conclusion: The method is simple

rapid and accurate

and can be used for the quality control of five alkaloids in Corydalis Decumbentis Rhizoma.