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. 2020 Oct 18;25(20):4782.
doi: 10.3390/molecules25204782.

Simultaneous Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of the Coptidis Rhizoma and Euodiae Fructus Herbal Pair by Using UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS and UHPLC-DAD

Yan-Ying Li  1   2 , Min-Qun Guo  2 , Xue-Mei Li  3 , Xiu-Wei Yang  1
Affiliations

Simultaneous Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of the Coptidis Rhizoma and Euodiae Fructus Herbal Pair by Using UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS and UHPLC-DAD

Yan-Ying Li et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

The herbal pair of Coptidis Rhizoma (CR) and Euodiae Fructus (EF) is a classical traditional Chinese medicine formula used for treating gastro-intestinal disorders. In this study, we established a systematic method for chemical profiling and quantification analysis of the major constituents in the CR-EF herbal pair. A method of ultra high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) for qualitative analysis was developed. Sixty-five compounds, including alkaloids, phenolics, and limonoids, were identified or tentatively assigned by comparison with reference standards or literature data. The UHPLC fingerprints of 19 batches of the CR-EF herbal pair samples were obtained and the reference fingerprint chromatograms were established. Furthermore, nine compounds among 24 common peaks of fingerprints were considered as marker components, which either had high contents or significant bioactivities, were applied to quality control of the CR-EF herbal pair by quantitative analysis. This UHPLC-DAD analysis method was validated by precision, linearity, repeatability, stability, recovery, and so on. The method was simple and sensitive, and thus reliable for quantitative and chemical fingerprint analysis for the quality evaluation and control of the CR-EF herbal pair and related traditional Chinese medicines.

Keywords: Coptidis Rhizoma; Euodiae Fructus; UHPLC-DAD fingerprint; UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS; herbal pair; quality markers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
TIC of the CR-EF herbal pair extract of 0–60 min (A) and 60–80 min (B). Peaks have been numbered according to the Table S1.
Figure 1
Figure 1
TIC of the CR-EF herbal pair extract of 0–60 min (A) and 60–80 min (B). Peaks have been numbered according to the Table S1.
Figure 2
Figure 2
General MS/MS fragmentation pathways of protoberberine-type alkaloids.
Figure 3
Figure 3
MS/MS proposed fragmentation pathways of 1-methyl-2-[(Z)-4-nonenyl]-4(1H)-quinolone.
Figure 4
Figure 4
MS/MS proposed fragmentation pathways of evodiamide (A) and hortiacine (B).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Proposed characteristic fragments’ structures of limonoids.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Proposed major fragments of phenolic compounds.
Figure 7
Figure 7
UHPLC fingerprints of different CR-EF herbal pair samples and reference fingerprint.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Chemical structures of nine markers for quantification.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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