Abstract
A highly precise and accurate method, based on high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray
ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS), was developed for the qualitative and
quantitative comparison of the main constituents in the rhizome of Ligusticum chuanxiong (LC) and three related umbelliferous medicinal plants. A comprehensive validation
of the developed method was conducted, and the method was highly sensitive, reproducible
and accurate. The unique properties of the present method were validated by analyzing
20 related herbal samples including 5 LC samples, 5 Cnidium officinale samples (CO), 5 Angelica sinensis samples (AS) and 5 Angelica acutiloba samples (AA). Twelve compounds including phenolic constituents, alkylphthalides and
phthalide dimers were identified by online ESI-MS and by comparison with literature
data and standard compounds, and six of them were quantified by HPLC-DAD simultaneously.
The results demonstrated that identical compound types were identified as the main
constituents of LC, CO, AS and AA herbs. The results also support the alternative
application of these medicinal plants in Chinese and Japanese folk medicines. In the
present study, it was found that the variation in the abundance of senkyunolide A
was significant in these related herbs; it is therefore feasible to choose senkyunolide
A as a characteristic compound for quality evaluation and chemical authentication
of these herbs.
Key words
Ligusticum chuanxiong
-
Cnidium officinale
-
Angelica sinensis
-
Angelica acutiloba
- Umbelliferae - HPLC-ESI-MS - senkyunolide A - pharmaceutical analysis
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Prof. Hao Zhang
West China School of Pharmacy
Sichuan University
No. 17, Section 3, Ren-Min-Nan-Lu Road
Chengdu
Sichuan 610041
People's Republic of China
Phone: +86-28-8550-3037
Fax: +86-28-8550-3037
Email: zhanghhx@vip.sina.com