Abstract:Objective: To investigate the influence of processing of Radix et Rhizoma Rhei on it‘ s five anthraquinone components, and to develop a HPLC quantatitive method for these components in Radix et Rhizoma Rhei. Method: Chromatographic conditions are as follow: Kromasil-C18(4.6 mm· 150 mm,5 μm) column, ethanol -H2O-H3PO4(85:15:0.1) as mobile phase and the detection wavelength at 254 nm. Result: The average recoveries are 97.9% (aleo-emodin), 97.1% (rhein), 97.6% (emodin), 97.4% (chrysophanol) and 99.1% (physcion). RSD are 1.4% , 1.1%, 0.9%, 1.1% and 2.2% correspondingly. After processing, the contents of five anthraquinone agly-cones descended compared with the crude material, the descending percentage are 15.9% (aleo-emodin), 28.0% (rhein), 25.8% (e-modin), 10.0% (chrysophanol) and 10.3% (physcion). Conclusion: This method is simple, sensitive and repeatable. It‘canbeased for quality control of Radix et Rhizoma Rhei and it‘s processed products.