Fritillaria pallidiflora Schrenk is a commonly used antitussive herb. It belongs to the Fritillaria genus of Liliaceae family, which is mainly distributed in Xinjiang province of China. 

In traditional Chinese medical science, the herb works good to expel pathogenic heat and moisture the lung, eliminate phlegm and stop cough. The medical effects are attributed to its active alkaloid, mainly Sipeimine-3-D-glucoside, peimine and peiminine. 

However, it has long been a target for scientists to find an effective, sensitive and easy way for the detection of active ingredients in the herb. 

Researchers from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have recently found a new method for the detection. ZHAO Li and her colleagues developed the quantitative determination method with High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrum. 

The method is proved to be high accuracy and good repeatability, and mostly, it is rather simple and rapid for effective detection of medicinal composition in Fritillaria pallidiflora Schrenk. This may provide necessary technical support for further medicinal materials quality control and the development of new medicine.