ABSTRACT
Objective: To establish a quick method of ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadruple time-of-fight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) for the identification of chemical constituents in Epimedii Folium. Methods: The separation was performed on the chromatographic column of Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C18 (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm). The mobile phase consisted of 0.1% formic acid-water (A) and 0.1% formic acid-acetonitrile (B) was used as gradient elute. The flow rate was 0.4 mL/min gradient elution and column temperature was 35 ℃. The injection volume was 5 μL. The negative ion mode was used for TOF-MS scanning. The compounds were identified by retention time, accurate relative molecular mass, and fragment ions in mass spectrometry. Results: Based on the MS/MS of standards and compared with reference results, 29 compounds were discovered. Then 10 batches of Epimedii Folium sample were analyzed, and compounds in them were also identified. Finally, 16 constituents exiting in all samples were found. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that UPLC-Q-TOF-MS method is quick, accurate, and efficient for the identification of the compounds in Epimedii Folium. The identification of chemical compositions and the definition of compositions generally existed in Epimedii Folium which provides some experiment foundation for study of its efficiency substances and quality control.