Chemical profiling of Qingfei Paidu Decoction by triplex off‐line two‐dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

Qingfei Paidu Decoction is a Chinese medicine formula that has been proved effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019. However, the comprehensive separation and characterization of Qingfei Paidu Decoction are of a great challenge due to the diversity of chemical components in a wide range of polarity. In this study, a triplex off‐line two‐dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry is developed for the analysis of Qingfei Paidu Decoction. One reversed‐phase liquid chromatography×hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography system and two reversed‐phase liquid chromatography×reversed phase liquid chromatography systems were constructed to separate polar components and weak‐polar components in Qingfei Paidu Decoction, respectively. Benefiting from the good orthogonality of two‐dimensional liquid chromatography and high sensitivity of quadrupole time‐of‐flight MS, chemical components with different polarities and content were discovered. A total of 749 peaks were detected in positive and negative ionization mode and presented as a four‐dimensional data plot. Meanwhile, 498 compounds belonging to 14 categories were tentatively identified. These results provide good supplementary to elucidate the material basis of Qingfei Paidu Decoction. The triplex off‐line two‐dimensional liquid chromatography‐quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry strategy can be a powerful and efficient tool for the separation and characterization of chemical substances in traditional Chinese medicine formulas.

Jinhua Qinggan Granule UHPLC-Q-extractive-Orbitrap-MS assay: Putative identification of 45 potential anti-Covid-19 constituents, confidential addition, and pharmacopoeia quality-markers recommendation

“…The ignorance of constituents has hindered the clinical application, to great extent. By comparison, Lianhua Qingwen Capsule and Qingfei Paidu Decoction have been extensively studied for their constituents [ 5 , 6 ]. These chemical studies apparently have benefited their clinical applications.…”

Gain deeper insights into traditional Chinese medicines using multidimensional chromatography combined with chemometric approaches

“… 1 D: C 18 HCE (4.6 mm × 250 mm, 5 μm) UV Dai et al, 2023 2 D: HILIC Safflower (Honghua): flowers 1 D: TAC column ESI-MS Qiao et al, 2021 2 D: Shim-pack VP-ODS (10 mm × 2.0 mm, 5 μm) Homoisoflavonoids from Ophiopogon japonicus (L. f.) Ker Gawl. (Maidong): roots 1 D: HSCCC 2 D: SunFire™ C 18 (4.6 mm × 250 mm, 5 μm) DAD; Q-TOF-MS Deng, Xu, Tong, Shi, & Shi, 2020 Qingfei Paidu Decoction 1 D: C 18 YE column (50 mm × 250 mm, 10 μm) UV; Q-TOF-MS Shen et al, 2022 2 D: BEH Amide (2.1 mm × 150 mm, 1.7 μm) C. chinensis (Tusizi): seeds 1 D: Waters XBridge Amide (4.6 mm × 150 mm, 3.5 μm) Q-TOF-MS Wang et al, 2022c 2 D: Agilent Zorbax SB-Aq (2.1 mm × 100 mm, 1.8 μm) Compound Danshen Dripping Pill 1 D: XBridge Amide (4.6 mm × 150 mm, 3.5 μm) Q-TOF-MS Wang et al, 2022a 2 D: HSS T3 (2.1 mm × 100 mm, 1.8 μm) Huanglian Jiedu Decoction 1 D: Waters Xbridge HILIC column Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS Li, et al, 2022b 2 D: Waters Acquity HSS T3 column O. indicum 1 D: Oasis HLB (2.1 mm × 20 mm, 25 μm) DAD; ESI-MS Cheng, Kong, Li, & Li, 2022 2 D: Kinetex C 18 (4.60 mm × 100 mm, 2.6 μm) …”

“…Over the past three years, the off-line 2D-LC method has been developed not only for the separation and analysis of medicinal material extracts ( Lecas, Nuccio, De Vaumas, & Faure, 2021 ) but also for the identification of components in Chinese herb prescriptions ( Shen et al, 2022 ) and quality control of TCMs. For instance, off-line 2D-LC-MS technology combined with automatic peak annotation, molecular networking, and collision cross-section (CCS) prediction has identified or tentatively characterized a total of 302 compounds in Cuscuta chinensis Lam.…”

Chemical profiling of Ziziphi spinosae semen using on‐line comprehensive two‐dimensional liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry based on a novel phthalic anhydride bonded stationary phase

“…2DLC is a promising method that could meet this requirement [9][10][11]. At present, online 2DLC has been applied in the detection of components of TCM [12]. Based on the way that first dimension (D1) fractions are transferred to the second dimension (D2), 2DLC is classified into on-line and off-line modes.…”