Simultaneous determination of stilbenes, phenolic acids, flavonoids and anthraquinones in Radix polygoni multiflori by LC–MS/MS

A simple and sensitive method was developed for the simultaneous determination of stilbenes, phenolic acid, flavonoids and anthraquinones in Radix polygoni multiflori by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). The separation was completed on an Eclipse Plus C18 (50 mm × 3.0 mm, 1.8 μm) column using 0.05% (v/v) formic acid and acetonitrile as mobile phases. The correlation coefficients of all the calibration curves were higher than 0.9990. The recoveries ranged from 95.9% to 106%. Relative standard deviations of intra and inter-day precisions were lower than 6.51%. The validated method was successfully applied to quantify stilbenes, phenolic acid, flavonoids and anthraquinones, which provided a new basis for overall assessment on quality of Radix polygoni multiflori.

► A simple and rapid LC–ESI-MS/MS method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of the four types of active constitutions namely stilbenes, anthraquinones, flavonoids and phenolic in P. multiflori. ► Eight compounds were identified and quantified in various P. multiflori samples in both the crude and processed forms. ► The orthogonal experimental method was performed to optimize the extraction and the liquid chromatography conditions. ► The method was an efficient method for quality control of Radix polygoni multiflori.