Ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization/quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry for the rapid analysis of constituents in the traditional Chinese medicine formula Wu Ji Bai Feng Pill

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit and flower extracts, which are rich sources of bioactive phenolics, are widely utilized as ingredients in botanical dietary supplements. While the phenolic characterization of extracts of pomegranate fruit has been previously studied by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, there is lack of similar data for pomegranate flowers. Herein, liquid chromatography with time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry was utilized to comprehensively characterize the phenolics present in two pomegranate extracts, previously studied for their in vitro and in vivo biological effects, namely, a patented commercial pomegranate fruit extract (Pomella®), and a pomegranate flower extract. Seventy-one phenolics were characterized in the pomegranate fruit extract with the vast majority identified in the flower extract. However, only the pomegranate fruit extract contained tannin-glucuronides and two punicalagin isomers (a characteristic pomegranate phenolic) were identified in this extract while four were identified in the flower extract. The previously reported compounds, pomellatannin and punicatannins A/B, were identified as unique chemical markers in the pomegranate fruit and flower extracts, respectively. This study will aid in the quality control, authentication, and standardization of these botanical ingredients to evaluate their potential health benefits in future planned pre-clinical and clinical studies. Also, this is the first phenolic characterization of a pomegranate flower extract using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid chromatography coupled with time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry for comprehensive phenolic characterization of pomegranate fruit and flower extracts used as ingredients in botanical dietary supplements

Liu

Seeram

2018

“…Phytochemical constituents of citrus fruits are often analyzed by LC–MS, and in recent years, UHPLC combined with high‐resolution MS has become a faster, more efficient, and sensitive tool for rapid analysis of bioactive compounds in plant extracts and some traditional Chinese medicines compared with HPLC–MS. Yang et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As one of the Chinese wild citrus species, Mangshanju is not suitable to be eaten fresh owing to the low content of juice as well as low sweetness. Therefore, study Phytochemical constituents of citrus fruits are often analyzed by LC-MS, and in recent years, UHPLC combined with high-resolution MS has become a faster, more efficient, and sensitive tool for rapid analysis of bioactive compounds in plant extracts and some traditional Chinese medicines [2,3] compared with HPLC-MS. Yang et al identified 32 bioactive compounds in Ponkan peel, such as flavonoid-O-glycosides, flavone-C-glycosides, and polymethoxyflavones based on UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS and the separation was achieved within 7 min [4]. Recently, our group analyzed and identified 42 polymethoxylated flavonoids (PMFs) in 14 citrus peels using UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS with a fast separation of 12 min [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient analysis of phytochemical constituents in the peel of Chinese wild citrus Mangshanju (Citrus reticulata Blanco) by ultra high performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time‐of‐flight‐mass spectrometry

Zhao

Xing

et al. 2018

An efficient ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry method was developed for separation and profiling of phytochemical constituents of Chinese wild mandarin Mangshanju (Citrus reticulata Blanco). All constituents were well separated within 16 min. Based on retention times, accurate mass, MS fragments, and/or reference standards as well as databases, a total of 81 compounds were unambiguously identified or tentatively assigned including flavonoid glycosides, acylated flavonoid glycosides, flavones, polymethoxylated flavonoids, and limonoids as well as four other compounds. Among them, 22 polymethoxylated flavones and ten polymethoxylated flavanones/chalcones were identified in Mangshanju, more types than other citrus reported before. A basic procedure for identifying flavonoid-O-glycosides and the aglycones including polymethoxylated flavonoids was proposed. In addition, this method was successfully used to analyze another four mandarin germplasms, Cenxi suan ju, Xipi gousi gan, Nanfeng miju, and Or, showing that Mangshanju contained two characteristic compounds distinct from the other four citrus species. This study systematically profiled phytochemical constituents of Mangshanju, which was helpful for further utilization of Mangshanju owing to its abundant bioactive compounds.

“…Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used in China for thousands of years to prevent and treat various diseases by targeting and modulating multiple disease‐related pathways with multiple effective components . It is now widely accepted that both the chemical constituents and their metabolites may be responsible for the efficacy of TCMs . Thus, based on the above views, to evaluate the clinical application of TCMs, the first thing to do is to identify the main effective components, and the second is to elucidate the mode‐of‐action of these chemical components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid characterization of the chemical constituents and rat metabolites of the Wen‐Jing decoction by ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry

Zhou

et al. 2019

The Wen‐Jing decoction, a traditional Chinese medicine formula, has been used as a blood‐activating and stasis‐eliminating drug to treat gynaecological syndromes, such as dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, and menstrual disorders. However, its pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanism of action have not been thoroughly elucidated to date. The goal of this study was to characterize and identify multiple constituents and metabolites in Wen‐Jing decoction. An ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry method was established and validated in the present study for the first time. A total of 101 compounds, including 11 monoterpene glycosides, 19 flavonoids, 49 triterpene saponins, 5 phthalides, 3 phytoecdysones, and 14 others, were unambiguously or tentatively characterized by comparing their retention times and MS data with reference standards or with data reported in the literature. After oral administration of Wen‐Jing decoction, 27 compounds, including nine prototype compounds and 18 metabolites were detected in rat plasma. Thus, the ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry method was found to be efficient for in‐depth structural elucidation of chemical compounds in complex matrices of herbal medicines, which will provide useful chemical information for quality control and mechanism‐of‐action research.