Simultaneous determination of phenolic acids and flavonoids in Chenopodium formosanum Koidz. (djulis) by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS

A high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-tandem mass spectrometry method (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS) was developed for simultaneous determination of phenolic acids and flavonoids in djulis (Chenopodium formosanum Koidz.), a traditional Chinese herb reported to possess vital biological activities. A high yield of phenolic acids and flavonoids was attained by employing 50% ethanol in water as the extraction solvent and shaking in a 60 °C water bath for 3 h. A total of 8 phenolic acids and 14 flavonoids were separated and identified within 55 min by using a Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column with detection at 280 nm, flow rate at 0.8 mL/min, column temperature at 35 °C, and a gradient solvent system of 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile. Two internal standards caffeic acid and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside were used for quantitation of phenolic acids and flavonoids in djulis respectively. The amounts of phenolic acids ranged from 11.5 ± 0.8 μg/g (caffeoyl-putrescine-derivative (2)) to 1855.3 ± 16.9 μg/g (hydroxylphenylacetic acid pentoside), while the flavonoids ranged from 19.93 ± 2.29 μg/g (quercetin-3-O-(coumaryl)-rutinoside-pentoside (1)) to 257.3 ± 2.05 μg/g (rutin-O-pentoside (2)). A high recovery (89.68-97.20%) and high reproducibility was obtained for both phenolic acids and flavonoids with the relative standard deviation (RSD) for the latter ranging from 0.09-8.22% (intra-day variability) and 0.80-8.48% (inter-day variability). This method may be applied to determination of both phenolic acids and flavonoids in food products and Chinese herbs.