Rapid analysis of a Chinese herbal prescription by liquid chromatography–time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid method, using liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry was developed for the analysis of Chinese herbal prescription. The analysis was performed on a Waters UPLC BEH C18 column using gradient elution system. A hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight analyzer was used for the determination of accurate mass of the protonated or deprotonated molecule and fragment ion. The constituents of the prescription were identified and deduced according to the mass spectrometric fragmentation mechanisms, MS/MS data and relevant literatures. This method was rapid and reliable, which showed high sensitivity and resolution for identifying bioactive constituents in complex chemical system such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescriptions. With this method, the constituents of a Chinese herbal prescription Wen–Pi–Tang were identified. Mainly four types of constituents, phenolic compounds, alkaloids, triterpenoid saponins and flavonoid glycoside were characterized.