Rapid Identification of the Chemical Components of Ilex rotunda Thunb Using UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS

Abstract

Ilicis Rotundae Cortex (IRC) consists of the bark of Ilex rotunda Thunb, and its chemical constituents mainly include flavonoid glycosides, phenols, and triterpenoid saponins. In this study, a preliminary analysis was performed to identify and obtain the chemical components from IRC to better control the quality of the medicinal materials and provide a chemical basis for the study of the efficacy of the active components. Simple and efficient sample pretreatment and ultrasonic-assisted extraction methods were used to analyze the mass spectrum fragments and fracture modes in the anion mode by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. Using a two-step strategy, the neutral loss, diagnostic ions, and characteristic fragments were studied to screen diverse skeletons and substitutions, and the possible compounds were identified by comparison with databases. The representative compounds were compared with the standard, and the mass spectrogram was found to match perfectly. Thus, our findings reveal that this method is feasible and reliable and can be used to analyze the chemical components of IRC. We identified 105 compounds, including 22 triterpenoid saponins, 15 chlorogenic acids, 33 phenylpropanoids and phenylpropanosides, 3 iridoids, 1 flavonoid, 10 lignans, 12 glycosides, and 9 other compounds. This method lays the foundation for further elucidating the pharmacodynamics of IRC and provides a practical method for the identification of IRC.

Analysis of Antioxidant Constituents from Ilex rotunda and Evaluation of Their Blood–Brain Barrier Permeability

“…Ilex rotunda Thunb., the herbal medicine “Jiubiying”, is widely used as a traditional Chinese medicine for reducing fever, relieving pain, indigestion, and analgesia [ 33 ]. A previous study has isolated large amounts of triterpenes and triterpene glycosides from I. rotunda fruits and leaves [ 14 ]. Although some Ilex species have been reported as sources of antioxidants, information about antioxidative phytochemicals from I. rotunda is still limited.…”

“…This plant is distributed in the east Asia region including China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. Previous studies have reported that this plant contains triterpenes and their saponins, sesquiterpenes, hemiterpene glycosides, flavonoid glycosides, and aromatic compounds [ 14 ]. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that I. rotunda has cardiovascular system-protecting, colitis-associated cancer (CAC)-preventing, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidative effects [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Systematic Characterization of the Chemical Components of Canna edulis Ker-Gawl Based on UHPLC Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS Technology

“…Te daughter ion at m/z 125.024 35 is attributed to the loss of CO 2 . Combined with the standard database, the MassBank database, and literature information [36], peak 8 was identifed as gallic acid. Te secondary mass spectral profle of peak 8 is shown in Figure 6.…”