ABSTRACT
Objective: To identify the chemical components in traditional Chinese herbal medicine Ginseng by high performance liquid chromatography diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) and High performance liquid chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-TOF/MS). Methods: An Agilent Zorbax XDB-C18 column (250 mm X 4.6 mm, 5 μm) was used for isolation and identification of chemical components in Ginseng with a mobile phase of acetonitrile and water in gradient elution. A gradient program was used as follows: 1-35 min, 19% A; 35-55 min, 19%-29% A; 55-70 min, 29% A; 70-110 min, 29%-40% A; 110-150 min, 95% A. The flow rate was set at 1.0 ml/min, the injection volume was 20 μl, the column temperature was set at 20°C. The time-of-flight mass spectrometer was equipped with an EIS ion source. Scanning mass range was between m/z 100-1 350. Results: Thirty-nine chemical compounds in Ginseng were identified unequivocally. Conclusion: Chromatographic demonstration of 39 chemical compounds of Ginseng in one run is achieved by HPLC-TOF/MS, which provides a foundation for further study on the metabolism and action mechanism of traditional Chinese herbal medicine.