Simultaneous determination of 19 bioactive components of different types in Xintiantai I by UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective To establish an effective UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of 19 active components (ginsenoside Rg1, Rb1, Rd, berberine, epiberberine, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, columbamine, coptisine, evodiamine, rutaecarpine, dehydroevodiamine, limonin, hyperin, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, bisdemethoxycurcumin, echinacoside, and verbascoside) of different types in Xintiantai I (XI), and provide a comprehensive and efficient quality control method for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Methods The analysis was performed on an Agilent 1290 system with a Agilent Zorbax Eclipse Plus C18 column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 3.5 μm) at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min using acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution as mobile phase. Mass spectrometric detection was performed on multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) in positive and negative ionization mode. The contents of 19 active components in XI were determined by monitoring the specific ions of each component. Results The 19 active components were accurately determined in 15 min and had the good linearity (r2 > 0.999) within the linear ranges. The average recovery rates of ginsenoside Rg1, Rb1, Rd, berberine, epiberberine, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, columbamine, coptisine, evodiamine, rutaecarpine, dehydroevodiamine, limonin, hyperin, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, bisdemethoxycurcumin, echinacoside, and verbascoside were 94.80%, 96.78%, 95.59%, 96.88%, 97.74%, 100.08%, 96.27%, 100.25%, 98.32%, 97.16%, 95.60%, 95.28%, 96.81%, 95.22%, 96.85%, 95.31%, 93.86%, 94.79%, and 95.20%, respectively; The contents of three batches XI of the 19 components were in the ranges of 2.28-2.49, 0.82-0.90, 1.22-1.32, 14.44-15.50, 3.71-3.99, 3.26-3.49, 3.09-3.33, 4.39-4.72, 4.56-4.92, 0.52-0.57, 0.30-0.33, 4.46-4.76, 3.02-3.24, 2.59-2.76, 6.03-6.38, 1.47-1.58, 1.90-2.08, 3.40-3.88, and 1.53-1.74 mg/g, respectively. Conclusion The developed UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS-MRM method is fast, sensitive, and reproducible for TCM quality control. It can be used for the quality control of XI, which also provides reference for TCM quality research.