Content determination of the major constituents of Yinchenzhufu decoction via ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry

In this study, we developed a method using ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry for determining the contents of chlorogenic acid, atractylenolide I, atractylenolide III, benzoylaconine, benzoylmesaconine, benzoylhypaconine, glycyrrhizic acid, glycyrrhetic acid, liquiritigenin, and cinnamic acid in Yinchenzhufu decoction, a classic traditional Chinese medicine prescription. Separation was performed on a C18 column (4.6 mm i.d. × 250 mm, 5 μm) and achieved with good linearity (r2 > 0.9984) within 35 min. Gradient elution was applied using a mobile phase of 0.05% acetic acid/acetonitrile. The analytes were quantified on an LCQ ion trap mass spectrometer in electrospray ionisation full-scan mode. Variations in the intra- and inter-day precision of all analytes were below 4.57%, and the accuracy was evaluated by a recovery test within the range of 97.88–102.25%. The method successfully quantified the 10 compounds in five sample batches of Yinchenzhufu decoction, and the results show that the method is accurate, sensitive, and reliable.

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► Yinchenzhufu decoction has the potential to develop a new drug for treating jaundice.
► A UHPLC–MS method was established for the first time to determine the 10 compounds.
► The method was applied to quantify the compounds in different batches of samples.