Using LC/MS/MS to determine matrine, oxymatrine, ferulic acid, mangiferin, and glycyrrhizin in the Chinese medicinal preparations Shiau-feng-saan and Dang-guei-nian-tong-tang

We have developed a simple, rapid, selective, and reproducible method for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicinal preparations. In this study, we used LC/MS/MS to simultaneously identify and quantify five marker compounds – matrine, oxymatrine, ferulic acid, mangiferin, and glycyrrhizin – in preparations of Shiau-feng-saan and Dang-guei-nian-tong-tang. The calibration curves for the five marker compounds were linear over the concentration range 50–2500 ng/mL (R2 > 0.9971). The matrix effect was minimized and the recoveries of the five marker compounds were >90% at a concentration of 1 μg/mL. Our experimental data reveal that significant differences exist between samples obtained from different sources.