HPLC‐Q‐TOF‐MS/MS for analysis of major chemical constituents of Yinchen–Zhizi herb pair extract

Abstract

The Yinchen-Zhizi herb pair (YZHP) consists of Herba Artemisiae Scopariae (Yinchen in Chinese) and Fructus Gardeniae (Zhizi in Chinese), and is mainly used to treat icteric hepatitis, itching skin and eczema. However, the bioactive constituents responsible for the pharmacological effects of YZHP are still unclear to date. In this work, a rapid and sensitive method was established to comprehensively study the constituents in YZHP extract by HPLC-Q-TOF MS/MS. The analysis was performed on an HPLC system equipped with an Agilent poroshell 120 EC-C18 column (100 × 2.1 mm, 2.7 mm) working in a gradient elution program coupled to quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry operating in the negative ion mode. As a result, a total of 46 compounds including 17 from Herba Artemisiae Scopariae and 36 from Fructus Gardeniae were detected and tentatively identified in YZHP extract by comparing the retention time and mass spectrometry and retrieving the reference literature. More importantly, a series of constituents, such as many iridoid glycosides, were reported for the first time in this formula. The HPLC-Q-TOF MS/MS method was developed and utilized successfully to identify the major constituents in YZHP extract and would be helpful for further metabolism and pharmacology research on YZHP.

Qualitative analysis of major constituents from Xue Fu Zhu Yu Decoction using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with hybrid ion trap time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

“…. Based on the information above and results from several references , compounds 10 , 13 , 16 , and 25 were tentatively identified.…”

Qualitative analysis of chemical constituents in traditional Chinese medicine analogous formula cheng‐Qi decoctions by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

“…In addition, there are no reports available for chemical analysis on the other two formulas in CQs, TWCQ and THCQ. HPLC‐MS/MS has been proven to be an efficient tool for the rapid qualitative analysis of compounds in complex systems, such as TCM formulas (Yan et al ., ; Chen et al ., ; Fu et al ., ; Liu et al ., ). Our present work here is aimed at establishing a specific and sensitive method based on HPLC‐ESI‐MS/MS to comprehensively investigate the systemic phytochemical constituents of extracts from four CQ formulas simultaneously and determine the differences in chemical constituents among CQs.…”

Systematic investigation on the chemical basis of anti‐NAFLD Qushi Huayu Fang. Part 1: A study of metabolic profiles in vivo and in vitro by high‐performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

“…So far, some studies have been performed on the individual herbs of QHF. For example, 46 compounds were identified in the Yinchen–Zhizi herb pair extract, which consists of iridoid glycosides, crocetin glycosides, organic acid, monocyclic monoterpene, and flavonoids (Fu et al, ). A total of 38 prototypes and 45 metabolites were identified in vivo when rats were orally administered P. cuspidatum ; however, the prototypes were all in trace levels (Fu et al, ).…”