Simultaneous determination of 15 components in Radix Glehniae by high performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

A novel qualitative and quantitative method using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry was developed for simultaneous analysis of 15 components including 10 coumarins, four phenolic acids and adenosine in Radix Glehniae, an important traditional Chinese medicine. The separation was performed on a C18 column with isocratic elution consisted of 0.1% formic acid and methanol (30:70, v/v). The identification and quantification of the analytes were achieved on a hybrid quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometer. Multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) scanning was employed for quantification with switching electrospray ion source polarity between positive and negative modes in a single run. Full validation of the method was carried out (linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection and limit of quantification). The results indicated that the method was simple, rapid, specific and reliable. And we successfully applied it to analyze 20 Radix Glehniae samples from different sources.