The determination of fatty acids and organic acids in Chinese medicinal plant Ranunculus ternatus Thunb using GC-MS was studied. The Ranunculus ternatus Thunb from Henan province was cut into less than 20 mesh pieces, then extracted by petroleum ether or ether in refluxing and esteried, and finally was determined using GC-MS, The results show that there are 23 kinds of organic compounds in the Chinese medicinal plant Ranunculus ternatus Thunb from Henan, among which 15 kinds of fatty acids were identified, including myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linolenic acid, eicosanoic acid, docosanoic acid etc. The unsaturated fatty acids and oleic acid account for 58.19% and 35.68% of the total organic compounds repectively. The kinds of fatty acid in petroleum ether extract and ether extract are the same.
