Identification and characterization of major chemical compounds in Sophorae Fructus based on UPLC-Q-TOF/MS / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To identify the common compounds and variance compounds of Sophorae Fructus from different regions by ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-fight mass spectrometry (UFLC-Q-TOF-MS). Methods: The separation was performed on Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm), with a mobile phase using water with 0.1% formic acid (A) and acetonitrile with 0.1% formic acid (B) for gradient elution; Q-TOF/MS and electrospray ion (ESI) source were applied for the analysis under the positive ion mode and the negative ion mode; 1 000 ions were extracted through Markerview 1.2.1 software from Sophorae Fructus of 11 different regions. And common ions (compounds) were selected according to the following principles One ion can be detected in all samples, and most of the peak area was greater than the 1 × 104; The variance ions (compounds) were selected according to principal components analysis. The formula of common ions was then determined by accurate mass and isotopic abundance ratio from target screening function of Peakview 2.0/masterview 1.0 software, and its structure were determined by analysis of MS/MS fragment or comparison with standard substances and references. Results: A total of 24 common compounds and 21 variance compounds were identified and inferred in Sophorae Fructus from different producing areas. Conclusion: UPLC-Q-TOF/MS method which develops a new strategy can identify the main chemical constituents from Sophorae Fructus rapidly and accurately. The determination of the main common components lays a foundation for the selection of quality evaluation indexes and the in-depth study of pharmacodynamic substances. The variance components can also be used as one of the bases for the identification of origin and authentic evaluation of Sophorae Fructus.