Identification and determination of the major constituents in Traditional Chinese Medicinal formula Danggui-Shaoyao-San by HPLC–DAD–ESI-MS/MS

Danggui-Shaoyao-San (DSS), a famous traditional Chinese medicine formula consisting of six herbal medicines (Paeonia lactiflora, Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Poria cocos, Atractylodis macrocephalae and Rhizoma Alismatis), has been used as a classical gynecological remedy in China for centuries. However, its active substances have remained unknown. In this paper, an HPLC/DAD/ESI-MS/MS method was developed for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the major constituents in DSS. The ESI-MS/MS fragmentation behavior of the reference compounds was proposed for aiding the structural identification of components in DSS extract. Forty-one compounds including monoterpene glycosides, phenolic acids, phathalides, sesquiterpenoids and triterpenes were identified or tentatively characterized by comparing their retention times, UV and MS spectra with those of authentic compounds or literature data, and 14 of them (gallic acid, albiflorin, paeoniflorin, ferulic acid, benzoic acid, senkyunolide I, coniferyl ferulate, senkyunolide A, 3-butylphthalide, Z-ligustilide, Z-butylidenephthalide, atractylcnolide II, atractylcnolide I and levistolide A) were determined by HPLC–DAD using a C18 column and gradient elution of acetonitrile/water–formic acid (100:0.1, v/v). The linearity, precision, accuracy, LOD and LOQ were validated for the quantification method, which proved sensitive, accurate and reproducible. The study might provide a basis for the quality control of DSS extracts and preparations.