Quantitative Determination of p-Cymene, Thymol, Neryl Acetate, and β-Caryophyllene in Different Growth Periods and Parts of Eupatorium fortunei Turcz. by GC-MS/MS

Guanjun Nan; Lina Zhang; Zhengzheng Liu; Yu Liu; Yan Du; Hongwen Zhao; Hongxia Zheng; Rong Lin; Guangde Yang; Shaohua Zheng

doi:10.1155/2021/2174667

Quantitative Determination of p-Cymene, Thymol, Neryl Acetate, and β-Caryophyllene in Different Growth Periods and Parts of Eupatorium fortunei Turcz. by GC-MS/MS

J Anal Methods Chem. 2021 Aug 2:2021:2174667. doi: 10.1155/2021/2174667. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China.
² Department of Pharmacology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China.
³ Department of Anesthesiology and Operation, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China.

Abstract

Eupatorium fortunei Turcz. is a widely used Chinese herbal medicine in China. In this study, a gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated to simultaneously determine the contents of p-cymene, thymol, neryl acetate, and β-caryophyllene in roots, stems, and leaves of Eupatorium fortunei Turcz. harvested at different growth periods. All four constituents could be detected in leaves, three could be detected in stems except β-caryophyllene, and only thymol could be detected in roots. The order of the total contents of four constituents in different parts was leaves > stems > roots. It indicated that the leaves could be the proper medicinal parts of Eupatorium fortunei Turcz. The content of four constituents in leaves varied a lot among different growth periods and showed an M-shaped change trend with the growth of Eupatorium fortunei Turcz. The four constituents accumulated to the highest values in early July followed by mid-September. Accordingly, the best harvest time of Eupatorium fortunei Turcz. is early July and mid-September.