Optimization of Tropane Alkaloids Extraction from Utilizing Response Surface Methodology and Quality Assessment through UPLC Fingerprinting

a medicinal plant,is abundant in tropane alkaloids (e.g., hyoscyamine and scopolamine)within its roots. This species exhibits higher biomass and alkaloidcontent compared to traditional medicinal plants such as and . Given the significant bioactivity of natural tropane alkaloidsand the plant’s commercial potential, this study optimizedtheir extraction process using response surface methodology. The optimalconditions were determined as 78% ethanol concentration, 68 °Cextraction temperature, and 20 min extraction time. The actual tropanealkaloid yield (6.211 mg/g) closely aligned with the predicted value(6.194 mg/g), validating the model’s accuracy. Furthermore,a UPLC-PDA-based quantitative method was developed for analyzing chemicalcomponents of andsubsequently applied to construct its UPLC fingerprint for qualityassessment. The method demonstrated linearity for hyoscyamine in therange of 20.00–2000.00 μg/mL, scopolamine from 2.00 to256.00 μg/mL, and anisodamine 1 and 2 in the ranges of 1.08–69.12and 0.92–58.88 μg/mL, respectively. Average relativerecoveries for these compounds were 98.91, 99.73, 100.05, and 97.01%,respectively. The alkaloid content in the tested batch samples rangedfrom 3.2044 to 22.0037 mg/g with significant differences. Based onexperimental data and practical production requirements, the alkaloidcontent in medicinal materials meeting regulatory standards shouldnot be lower than 0.05%. Additionally, the Technique for Order Preferenceby Similarity to an Ideal Solution scoring prediction indicated thatthe relative closeness of the August harvest to the optimal schemewas 0.882, the highest score recorded. This suggests that early Augustmay be the most suitable period for harvesting to ensure optimal medicinalquality. These findings provide crucial references for the qualityevaluation and industrial application of this plant.