One single LC–MS/MS analysis for both phenolic components and tanshinones in Radix Salviae Miltiorrihizae and its medicinal products

A LC–MS/MS method was developed for the separation and simultaneous determination of phenolic components including danshensu, protocatechuic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde and caffeic acid as well as tanshinones including cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I and tanshinone IIA in samples of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae and Salviae Miltiorrhizae tablet. Triple quadrupole mass spectrometry was optimized in both positive and negative ion multiple reaction monitoring modes for the simultaneous quantitative analysis of the two different types of active components by using a time-segment program. The method gave recoveries of 85.4–106.4% with relative standard deviations of 2.4–8.0% for the spiked herb samples. The limits of detection were 0.30–0.83 μg/g for the analysis of 1.0 g Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae or tablet samples.