Abstract
Ephedra alkaloids, (-)-ephedrine, (+)-pseudoephedrine, (-)-N-methylephedrine, (+)-N-methylpseudoephedrine, (-)-norephedrine and (+)-norpseudoephedrine, from ephedra herb are sympathomimetic agonists causing an increase of metabolism, blood pressure and perspiration. In this study, we developed the validation method of (+)-pseudoephedrine and (-)-ephedrine, two major ephedra alkaloids in Ephedra spp., by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet spectrometer (HPLC-UV). HPLC analysis was performed using a HECTOR-M C18 column operating at $35^{\circ}C$, and UV detection at 215nm. The mobile phase used a gradient flow with 25 mM SDS in water (A) and acetonitrile (B).