Qualitative and quantitative analysis on chemical constituents from Curculigo orchioides using ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry.

A rapid ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF/MS) method was developed for qualitative and quantitative determination of constituents in the rhizome of Curculigo orchioides. Qualitative analysis was performed on a Waters ACQUITY UHPLC @ HSS T3 column (1.8 μm 100 × 2.1mm) using gradient elution with mobile phase of 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile. Quantitative analysis was performed on an Agilent ZORBAX Eclipse plus C18 column (1.7 μm 100 × 2.1mm) using gradient elution with mobile phase of 0.1% acetic acid and acetonitrile for at least 20 min. Quadrupole TOF/MS in either full scan mode or extracted ion mode was used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the constituents. According to the mass spectrometric fragmentation mechanism and UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS data, chemical structures of 45 constituents in the rhizome of Curculigo orchioides, including 19 phenols and phenolic glycosides, 16 lignans and lignan glycosides, 8 triterpenoid saponins, one flavone and one sesquiterpene, were identified tentatively on-line without the time-consuming process of isolation. In addition, 8 phenolic glycosides including 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), 2-hydroxy-5-(2-hydroxyethyl) phenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (HPG), anacardoside (ACD), orcinol glucoside (OGD), orcinol-1-O-β-D-apiofuranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (OAG), 2,6-dimethoxybenzoic acid (DBA), curculigoside (CUR) and curculigine A (CCL) were quantitated in 11 collected samples and 10 commercial samples from different providers. The results show that UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS is a viable method for analysis and quality evaluation of the constituents from the rhizome of Curculigo orchioides.