In the present work, a quantitative 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (qHNMR) was established for purity assessment of six aryltetralin lactone lignans. The validation of the method was carried out, including specificity, selectivity, linearity, accuracy, precision, and robustness. Several experimental parameters were optimized, including relaxation delay (D1), scan numbers (NS), and pulse angle. 1,4-Dinitrobenzene was used as internal standard (IS), and deuterated dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO-d6) as the NMR solvent. The purities were calculated by the area ratios of H-2,6 from target analytes vs. aromatic protons from IS. Six aryltetralin lactone lignans (deoxypodophyllotoxin, podophyllotoxin, 4-demethylpodophyllotoxin, podophyllotoxin-7'-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, 4-demethylpodophyllotoxin-7'-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, and 6''-acetyl-podophyllotoxin-7'-O-β -d-glucopyranoside) were analyzed. The analytic results of qHNMR were further validated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Therefore, the qHNMR method was a rapid, accurate, reliable tool for monitoring the purity of aryltetralin lactone lignans.
