Capillary high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for rapid analysis of pinane monoterpene glycosides in Cortex Moutan.

In this study, a rapid and reliable assay has been developed for quantification of pinane monoterpene glycosides in cortex Moutan; it is based on capillary high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (capillary HPLC-ESI MS). This method utilizes capillary HPLC for the separation of seven pinane monoterpene glycosides in a methanol extract of the botanical sample followed by negative ion electrospray ionization and single ion monitoring (SIM). The compounds of interest in the sample were unambiguously identified on the basis of information about retention time and quasi-molecular ions ([M-H](-)) or adduct ions ([M+HCOO](-)). Validation parameters of the method were established. The linearity range was 1.01-105.5 microg/mL with the square of correlation coefficients lying in the range of 0.9965-0.9997, limits of detection were on the fmol level, the average recoveries varied between 91.8 and 101.0%, and good precision values (RSD, 1.2-4.91%) for peak area were obtained. After validation, the applicability of the method for determination of these pinane monoterpene glycosides in cortex Moutan has been demonstrated.