Sulfur-containing Anemarrhenae Rhizoma decoction pieces were prepared by using sulfur-fumigating procedure. The difference components before and after sulfur fumigation in Anemarrhenae Rhizoma were analyzed and on-line identified by UPLC-Q-TOF-MSE combined with UNIFI informatics platform, principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) respectively. As a result, 16 major differences components were identified, and among them, 9 components were mainly from sulfur-fumigated samples. The main chemical markers in sulfur-fumigated Anemarrhenae Rhizoma were identified as the sulfite derivatives newly produced after sulfur-fumigating. Meanwhile, UPLC-Q-TOF-MSE was used to find the main chemical marker anemarrhena saponin BⅡ sulfite (m/z 983). By using this method, a rapid screening method for sulfur-fumigated Anemarrhenae Rhizoma was established. This was a convenient and accurate detection method for sulfur dioxide residue, and it can be used as an effective assistant method to control the quality of Anemarrhenae Rhizoma. At the same time, it was the first time to identify sulfited derivatives of steroidal saponins, and screen the sulfur-fumigated Anemarrhenae Rhizoma.
Keywords: Anemarrhenae Rhizoma; UPLC-Q-TOF-MSE; chemical markers; sulfur-fumigated.
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