Changes of Contents of Five Phenolic Acids Ingredients in Phyllanthus emblica L. during Different Harvesting Times by HPLC

Objective: To establish the method for content determination of the five phenolic acids ingredients of Phyllanthus emblica L. in different harvest time, and to investigate its variation rules so as to determine the best harvest time. Methods: The contents of Epigallocatechin, Corilagin, Scorpion Biphenyl acid, Ellagic acid and Scorpion acid of Phyllanthus emblica L. in different harvest time were determined by HPLC, and the total amount of accumulation of the five active ingredients was calculated. The chromatographic column was Inertsil ODS-3 C₁₈, acetonitrile−0.1% phosphoric acid aqueous solution as mobile phase for gradient elution. A diode array detector was used with full-wavelength scanning. Flow rate was 1.0 mL·min⁻¹. Injection was 10 μL. Used SPSS 24.0 software for principal component analysis, three principal components were selected and the comprehensive score was calculated. Results: The above five ingredients had a good linear relationship, and the correlation coefficients was more than 0.998, while the average recovery rates were 98.30%~101.22% and RSD were 0.43%~2.66%. There were some differences in the contents of the five phenolic acids ingredients in the leaves of Phyllanthus emblica L. during different harvesting periods. The contents of above five ingredients were 0.2317~1.5074, 1.9517~4.6593, 2.5105~6.3325, 2.2440~5.3386, 13.5570~39.1897 mg·g⁻¹, respectively. The change in content of the five phenolic acids ingredients in different harvest time was: July>May>August>June>January>September>April>February>October>December>March>November. The total content was the highest in July, which was (55.158±0.83) mg/g and showed a dynamic trend of decreasing first and then increasing. Principal component analysis results showed that the month with the highest comprehensive score was July. Conclusion: Established method can be used to determine the contents of the five phenolic acids ingredients of Phyllanthus emblica L. in different harvest time. July was the best harvest time for Phyllanthus emblica L.