Introduction: Alismatis Rhizoma (AR) has been widely used to treat various diseases. Its complex chemical composition has caused certain difficulties in the analysis of this traditional Chinese medicine. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a method for the rapid classification and identification of the chemical constituents of AR.
Objective: This article describes a method for the rapid classification and identification of major triterpenoids in AR.
Methodology: The samples were analysed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS). The assay was performed on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) with 0.1% formic acid in water (A), and acetonitrile (B) as mobile phase by gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. In the positive ion mode, the fragment information was obtained and compared with the characteristic fragments and neutral losses described in the literature. Then, the rapid classification and identification of the chemical components from AR were achieved.
Results: Finally, 25 triterpene compounds of AR were identified.
Conclusions: The method established in this study achieved the rapid classification and identification of chemical components in AR, which promotes the development of research methods to study the constituents of traditional Chinese medicine.
Keywords: Alismatis Rhizoma; UPLC-Q-TOF-MS; characteristic fragments; fragmentation process; neutral losses.
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.