ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT This paper aimed to evaluate the quality of hawthorn leaves and Guang hawthorn leaves by an UPLC-MS method from two aspects, fingerprint analysis and multi-ingredient quantification. Chromatographic separation was carried out on an UPLC system, the standardized characteristic fingerprints was established by Similarity Evaluation System for chromatographic fingerprinting of traditional Chinese medicine and cluster analysis. Eight components were simultaneously determined by mass spectrometry in multiple reaction-monitoring mode. The method was validated in terms of linearity (R2 > 0.9971), intraday and interday precision (RSD < 2.0%), repeatability (RSD < 2.3%), stability (RSD < 2.5%) and recovery (96.2-103.8%). The developed method was successfully applied to the quality evaluation between hawthorn leaves and Guang hawthorn leaves, and there were differences in the component and the content, hawthorn leaves and Guang hawthorn leaves cannot substitute each other in clinical medication.