Abstract:Objective:To investigate the easibility of employed computative spectrophotometry in the assay of traditional Chinese medicines. Method: Make contents of peaonol in 10 samples of Cortex Moutan were determined by three wavelength spectrophotometry and dual wavelength K ratio spectrophotometry,and then compared with the method in Chinese Pharmacopeia.Result:The differences of the UV spectrum of different lots of samples bring about relative error.sometimes up to 10%~30% for computative spectrophotometry.Conclusion:Computative spectrophotometry should be used carefully in assaying traditional Chinese medicines.