A rapid classification and identification method applied to the analysis of glycosides in Bupleuri radix and liquorice by ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

Bupleuri radix and liquorice are commonly used as a hepatoprotectants. Their main effective ingredients are triterpenoid saponins. It is known that the saponins in liquorice and Bupleuri radix not only promote the metabolism of sugar and lipids but also have anti-inflammatory functions and hepatoprotective effect. However, the complexity of these compounds results in difficulty in studying their pharmacodynamics and mechanism. In this study, glycosides were the main components that were identified and selected as the main research object. First, the mass spectrometry information of the main chemical components in liquorice and Bupleuri radix were collected from the literature. The characteristic fragments and neutral losses were summarized according to typical cleavage methods. Second, the samples were analysed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and characteristic fragment filters and neutral loss filters were successfully applied to screen 18 saponins from Bupleuri radix and 23 saponins and nine flavonoid glycosides from liquorice. Rapid classification and identification of the main components in Bupleuri radix and liquorice were finally achieved. This method promoted the development of chemical components in Bupleuri radix and liquorice, and provided a new way for screening, classifying, and identifying target components in complex samples of metabolomics and pharmacokinetics.

Rapid characterization of chemical constituents of Shaoyao Gancao decoction using UHPLC coupled with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

“…The inferences of each ingredient were carried out with the help of the molecular formulas and fragmentation pathways, followed by additional conrmation with reference to the previous literatures. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Table 1 lists the retention time, formula, molecular weight, calculated m/z, detected m/z, error value and MS/MS data of ingredients. A concrete illustration of the ingredients' characterization was performed as hereunder.…”

“…Some of these chemical components have been reported to be the active ingredients in SGD. 8,10,13,17,18 For example, paeoniorin was reported to have anti-inammatory, hepatoprotective and neuroprotective effects. 19,20 Albiorin was shown to be both anti-inammatory and antioxidant.…”

Localization of malonyl and acetyl on substituted saikosaponins according to the full‐scan mass spectra and the fragmentation of sodium‐adduct ions in the positive mode

“…Bioanalysis of saikosaponins has also been reported by LC/MS/MS in the biosamples of animals after administration . Besides the determination of saikosaponins with reference standards, characterization and identification of saikosaponins in the absence of reference standards and even the unknowns in the extracts of Bupleurum species have been reported according to the mass fragmentation in the negative mode using LC/MS n . In these reports, substituted saikosaponins, with malonyl and acetyl moieties in most cases, were characterized by sequential loss of substituents, such as CO 2 and C 3 H 2 O 3 for malonyl and C 2 H 2 O for acetyl, and sugar units in the MS n spectra in the negative mode .…”

Characterization of the multiple chemical components of Glechomae Herba using ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole‐time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry with diagnostic ion filtering strategy

“…Traditionally, filtering out and identifying the complex compounds manually from total ion chromatograms (TICs) of herbal medicines was time‐consuming and has low efficiency. Remarkable progress was made recently in characteristic product ions, diagnostic product ions intensities, orbitrap MS/MS, and ion mobility MS/MS with different collision cross section values due to size, shape, and charge differentiation . The high‐resolution characteristic product ions and neutral loss filtering strategy had been widely used for characterization of chemical constituents of herbal medicines, which simplified spectral elucidation.…”