A selective and sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the determination and pharmacokinetic study of (+)-8-hydroxypinoresinol-4'-O-β -D-glucopyranoside, prinsepiol-4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, (+)-pinoresinol-4,4'-di-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, and (-)-massoniresinol 3α-O-β-D-glucopyranoside in rat plasma after the oral administration of a Valeriana amurensis extract. The analytes and ethyl 4-hydroxybenzoate (internal standard) were separated on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC HSS T3 chromatographic column. The detection was performed on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer in multiple reaction monitoring mode using an electrospray ionization source operating in negative ionization mode. The linear ranges (ng/mL) of the standard curves were 0.39-154.00, 0.62-244.70, 0.50-198.60, and 0.34-134.50 for (+)-8-hydroxypinoresinol-4'-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, prinsepiol-4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, (+)-pinoresinol-4,4'-di-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, and (-)-massoniresinol 3α-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, respectively. The inter- and intra-day precisions were less than 11.0%, the accuracies were between -5.9 and 7.7%, and the extraction recoveries of the four analytes were > 81.2% from rat plasma. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of the four analytes after oral administration of a Valeriana amurensis extract to rats. The developed method has the potential for pharmacokinetic analysis and to provide additional information in the clinical application of Valeriana amurensis.

Panzerina lanata is a Chinese medicine with the bioactivity of detumescence and detoxification. In this study, novel qualitative and quantitative methods were established by ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography‐quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry and ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography‐triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometry, respectively. As a result, 20 compounds were identified or tentatively characterized including flavonoids, organic acids, alkaloids, and lignans, five of which were identified for the first time based on the reference standards. The quantitative approach exhibited good linearity (R2 > 0.995), precision (RSDs < 4.97%), stability (RSDs < 4.77%), and recovery (96.04‐104.14%). Afterward, this method was implemented to determine 11 flavonoids in four batches of P. lanata. Among them, seven compounds were quantified for the first time. Narcissin was abundant in each batch of P. lanata (average of 10.890‐14.230 mg/g) with the highest quantities. The results provide valuable information for quality evaluation.