Characterization of effective phytochemicals in traditional Chinese medicine by mass spectrometry

Chung-Yu Chen; Yen-Hsien Li; Zuguang Li; Maw-Rong Lee

doi:10.1002/mas.21782

Characterization of effective phytochemicals in traditional Chinese medicine by mass spectrometry

Mass Spectrom Rev. 2023 Sep-Oct;42(5):1808-1827. doi: 10.1002/mas.21782. Epub 2022 May 31.

Authors

Chung-Yu Chen^{1

2}, Yen-Hsien Li², Zuguang Li³, Maw-Rong Lee^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
² Department of Chemistry, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
³ College of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Graduate Institute of Food Safety, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.

PMID: 35638257
DOI: 10.1002/mas.21782

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) have been widely used in clinical and healthcare applications around the world. The characterization of the phytochemical components in TCMs is very important for studying the therapeutic mechanism of TCMs. In the analysis process, sample preparation and instrument analysis are key steps to improve analysis performance and accuracy. In recent years, chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (MS) has been widely used for the separation and detection of trace components in complex TCM samples. This article reviews various sample preparation techniques and chromatography-MS techniques, including the application of gas chromatography-MS and liquid chromatography-MS and other MS techniques in the characterization of phytochemicals in TCM materials and Chinese medicine products. This article also describes a new ambient ionization MS method for rapid and high-throughput analysis of TCM components.

Keywords: ambient ionization; chromatography; mass spectrometry; phytochemicals; sample extraction technique; traditional Chinese medicine.

Publication types

Review