[Identification and determination of major constituents in Polygonum cuspidatum Sieb. et Zucc. by high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-ion trap-time-of-flight mass spectrometry].

A facile method using high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-ion trap-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-IT-TOF MS) has been established for the analysis of multiple constituents in Polygonum cuspidatum Sieb. et Zucc. Six chemical standards including emodin, chrysophanol, physcion, rhein, aloe-emodin and polydatin were studied systematically and their fragmentation pathways were concluded. The methanol extract of Polygonum cuspidatum Sieb. et Zucc. was separated and analyzed by HPLC/ESI-QIT-TOF MS system in negative ion mode. A total of 10 constituents were identified or tentatively characterized with supporting results on the fragmentation pathways of 6 chemical standards and relative references. These constituents are mainly anthraquinones, stilbenes, torachryson and their derivatives, including resveratroloside, polydatin, emodin-8-O-glucoside, resveratrol, torachryson-8-O-glucoside, emodin-1-O-glucoside, torachryson-8-O-(6'-acetyl)glucoside (newly discovered), physcion-8-O-glucoside, physcion-8-O-(6'-acetyl)glucoside (newly discovered) and emodin. It is an extremely simple way by using HPLC/ESI-IT-TOF MS to provide chemical information concerning the constituents in herbal medicines and making the identification results more convinced.