Objective: To establish a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for simultaneous determination of the contents of gallic acid, propyl gallate and naringenin in Paeoniae Rubrathe Radix. Methods: The analysis of three compounds was performed on a 30 ℃ thermostatic ODS-C18 HPLC column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5μm), with the mobile phase comprising of methanol-0.1% acetic acid flowing at 1.0 mL/min in a gradient elution manner. And the detection wavelength was set at 270 nm. Results: For three compounds, gallic acid, propyl gallate, and naringenin, good linear relationship could be obtained within the concentration ranges of 5-250 μg/mL (R²>0.999), respectively. Results also indicated the good precision of the analytical method and good accuracy within the optimal recovery range. It was shown that 1 g of the raw material of Paeoniae Rubrathe Radix contained 1.867 mg of gallic acid, 0.561 mg of propyl gallate, and 0.093 mg of naringenin, respectively. Conclusion: This method was able to accurately determine the contents of three active compounds in Paeoniae Rubrathe Radix, and could be used for the quality control of Paeoniae Rubrathe Radix.

［Key words］Paeoniae Rubrathe Radix； gallic acid； propyl gallate； naringenin； high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)