Simultaneous quantification of 17 constituents from Yuanhu Zhitong tablet using rapid resolution liquid chromatography coupled with a triple quadrupole electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

A rapid resolution liquid chromatography coupled with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (RRLC-QQQ) was employed to identify and quantify the major bioactive constituents in Yuanhu Zhitong tablet (YZT), a traditional Chinese medicine. Seventeen constituents were simultaneously determined and quantified by reference standards in 9 min, namely scopoletin, protopine, α-allocryptopine, tetrahydropalmatine, coptisine, tetrahydroberberine, corydaline, berberine, byakangelicin, byakangelicol, xanthotoxin, bergapten, pimpinellin, oxypeucedanin, imperatorin, osthole and isoimperatorin. All of them were performed on an Agilent XDB C(18) column (4.6 mm × 50 mm, 1.8 μm) with linear gradient elution of acetonitrile-0.3% formic acid water (pH 2.7). The proposed method was applied to analyze 15 batches of samples with acceptable linearity (r(2), 0.9938-0.9999), precisions (RSD, 1.01-4.92%), repeatability (RSD, 1.33-4.91%), stability (RSD, 1.46-4.86%), recovery (RSD, 1.11-4.81%) of the seventeen compounds. Furthermore, the Hierarchical Cluster Analysis was applied to classify 15 samples based on characteristics of the 17 compound markers. As a result, the analytical method possessing high sensitivity and speed is suitable for the quality control of YZT.