Separation,Characterization, and Quantification of Atorvastatin and Related Impurities by Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

A method coupling high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detector and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI/MSⁿ) has been developed for the separation and characterization of atorvastatin and its related impurities. The results obtained using positive ion mode showed some diagnostic fragments that are useful for the identification of atorvastatin related impurities in real samples. Quantitative analysis of drug impurities was performed in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. Quantification limits for impurities were in the ranges 21.5–70.8 ng mL^?1. The method was successfully applied to the drug purity evaluation and quantitative determination of atorvastatin related impurities in bulk drugs and pharmaceutical formulations.     

Analysis of five HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors-- atorvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin: pharmacological, pharmacokinetic and analytical overview and development of a new method for use in pharmaceutical formulations analysis and in vitro metabolism studies

A specific, accurate, precise and reproducible high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantitation of five 3-hydroxy-3-methyglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, viz. atorvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin, in pharmaceutical formulations and extended the application to in vitro metabolism studies of these statins. Ternary gradient elution at a flow rate of 1 mL/min was employed on an Intertisl ODS 3V column (4.6 x 250 mm, 5 microm) at ambient temperature. The mobile phase consisted of 0.01 m ammonium acetate (pH 5.0), acetonitrile and methanol. Theophylline was used as an internal standard (IS). The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors and their metabolites were monitored at a wavelength of 237 nm. Drugs were found to be 89.6-105.6% of their label's claim in the pharmaceutical formulations. For in vitro metabolism studies the reaction mixtures were extracted with simple liquid-liquid extraction using ethyl acetate. Baseline separation of statins and their metabolites along with IS free from endogenous interferences was achieved. Nominal retention times of IS, atorvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin were 7.5, 17.2, 21.6, 28.5, 33.5 and 35.5 min, respectively. The proposed method is simple, selective and could be applicable for routine analysis of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors in pharmaceutical preparations as well as in vitro metabolism studies.     

Validated Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Lisinopril,Pravastatin, Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatin in API,Formulations and Human Serum by RP‐HPLC

Lisinopril is found to be useful in hypertension and statins as cholesterol lowering drug. Present work was designed for the simultaneous determination of lisinopril in presence of pravastatin, atorvastatin, and rosuvastatin using RP‐HPLC method. A Purospher star C18 (5 μm, 25×0.46 cm) column was used with mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile:water (60:40 V/V, pH 3.0) with flow rate of 1.0 mL·min^?1 and the quantitative evaluation was performed at 225 nm. The retention time of lisinopril was 2.0 min and for pravastatin, rosuvastatin and atorvastatin was found to be 3.1, 4.5 and 8.3 min respectively. Suitability of this method for the quantitative determination of the drugs was proved by validation in accordance with the requirements laid down by International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. Application of the suggested procedures were successfully applied to the determination of these compounds in active pharmaceutical ingredient and in pharmaceutical preparations, with high percentage of recovery, good accuracy and precision.     

Fast Analysis of Statins in Pharmaceuticals by MEKC

A universal micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatographic (MEKC) method with diode-array detection for the simultaneous and short-time analysis of lovastatin, simvastatin, pravastatin, fluvastatin, atorvastatin and rosuvastatin was introduced. Base hydrolysis was used to open lactone ring of lovastatin and simvastatin, administered as lactone prodrugs, in order to transform these compounds to the corresponding β-hydroxyl acid forms before MEKC analysis. This approach offered shorter analysis time due to a decrease of the migration times of negatively charged statin drugs in comparison to neutral lactone forms. Optimized conditions were found to be a 25 mM borate buffer pH 9.5 with 25 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate and 10% methanol added as an organic modifier, an applied voltage of 23 kV and a separation temperature of 30 °C. Ketoprofen was used as an internal standard. The linearity of the detector response for each statin was within the concentration range from 10 to 100 μg mL^?1 with a correlation coefficient greater than 0.9994. Analyses of six statin drugs in pharmaceutical samples were carried out in only 5 min. The interference of the tablet sample matrix was not observed. The recovery values were in the range of 98.04–100.80%.     

RP-HPLC Method for the Simultaneous Estimation of Eight Cardiovascular Drugs

The present study describes a convenient method for the separation and simultaneous determination of eight drugs used in cardiovascular diseases, viz., atenolol (ATN), lisinopril (LISI), hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), enalapril maleate (ENA), amlodipine besylate (AMLO), losartan potassium (LOSA), valsartan (VAL) and atorvastatin calcium (ATOR) in pharmaceutical formulations. A ZORBAX Rx-C8 column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm particle size) was used with mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile, 10 mM dipotassium hydrogen phosphate buffer (pH 2.2 adjusted with orthophosphoric acid) using a gradient program and quantitative evaluation was performed at 210 nm with a flow rate of 1.0 mL min^?1. Suitability of this method for the quantitative determination of the drugs was proved by validation in accordance with International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. The method is selective, precise, robust, accurate and can be used for routine analysis of 15 combination pharmaceutical formulations in quality control.     

Development of a stability indicating HPTLC method for the estimation of olanzapine in pharmaceutical dosage forms

We report herein an accurate, precise, and economical stability indicating high performance thin layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method developed to assess the safety of olanzapine in pharmaceutical formulations. Olanzapine was subjected to forced degradation studies to assess the effect of environmental conditions on its stability. Stress conditions such as hydrolysis under acidic and alkaline environment, degradation and oxidation by heat, light and air were used to study the stability of olanzapine. Mobile phase comprising of toluene: methanol (5:5 v/v) and aluminum plate pre-coated with silica gel 60 F₂₅₄ as a stationary phase were used for the development of chromatogram by HPTLC technique. Densitometric analysis of olanzapine carried out at 297 ​nm gave sharp symmetrical peak with R_f value of 0.50 and a satisfactory baseline resolution for all components. The drug was found to undergo degradation under acidic, alkaline and oxidative conditions. A single distinct peak in acidic and alkaline media while two peaks obtained as a result of oxidative degradation were well resolved along with the parent drug. The degradation products and parent drug showed significantly different R_f values. The developed HPTLC method gave quick and reproducible results for the olanzapine content in the tablets. The mean recoveries were 100.75% which confirms accuracy of the proposed method. The method was further validated for specificity, ruggedness and robustness. Based on the results, it can be suggested that the developed HPTLC method is quite efficient in separating the olanzapine from its degradation products; hence it can be used by pharmaceutical industries and regulatory bodies for the routine analysis of olanzapine in various pharmaceutical dosage forms.     

Stability-indicating reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method for simultaneous determination of atorvastatin and ezetimibe from their combination drug products

A simple, precise, and rapid stability-indicating reversed-phase column liquid chromatographic (RP-LC) method has been developed and subsequently validated for simultaneous estimation of atorvastatin (ATV) and ezetimibe (EZE) from their combination drug product. The proposed RP-LC method utilizes a LiChrospher 100 C18, 5 microm, 250 x 4.0 mm id column at ambient temperature; the optimum mobile phase consists of acetonitrile-water-methanol (45 + 40 + 15, v/v/v) with apparent pH adjusted to 4.0 +/- 0.1; mobile phase flow rate of 1.0 mL/min; and UV detection at 250 nm. ATV, EZE, and their combination drug product were exposed to thermal, photolytic, hydrolytic, and oxidative stress conditions, and the stressed samples were analyzed by the proposed method. There were no other coeluting, interfering peaks from excipients, impurities, or degradation products due to variable stress conditions, and the method is specific for the estimation of ATV and EZE in the presence of degradation products. The response was linear over the concentration range of 1-80 microg/mL for ATV and EZE. The mean recoveries were 99.27 and 98.5% for ATV and EZE, respectively. The intermediate precision data were obtained under different experimental conditions, and the calculated value of the coefficient of variation was found to be less than the critical value. The proposed method can be useful in the quality control of bulk manufacturing and pharmaceutical dosage forms.     

High-resolution 13C and 43Ca solid-state NMR and computational studies of the ethylene glycol solvate of atorvastatin calcium

We report ⁴³Ca and ¹³C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic studies of the ethylene glycol solvate of atorvastatin calcium. The ¹³C and ⁴³Ca chemical shift and ⁴³Ca quadrupolar coupling tensor parameters are reported. The results are interpreted in terms of the reported X-ray diffraction crystal structure of the solvate and are compared with the NMR parameters of atorvastatin calcium trihydrate, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Lipitor®. Hartree–Fock and density functional theory calculations of the NMR parameters based on a cluster model derived from the optimized X-ray diffraction crystal structure of the ethylene glycol solvate of atorvastatin calcium are in reasonable agreement with the experimental ⁴³Ca and ¹³C NMR measurables.     

Preformulation studies for atorvastatin calcium

This paper deals with the study of compatibility between antihyperlipidemic agent atorvastatin calcium trihydrate (ATV) and eight pharmaceutical excipients used in the development of solid dosage forms, namely citric acid, anhydrous lactose, magnesium citrate, magnesium carbonate, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone K30, colloidal silica and sorbitol. As investigational tools, universal attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffractogram patterns were used for binary mixtures of ATV with each excipient at ambient condition and then completed by subjecting the samples to thermal stress using thermal analysis (TG/DTG/HF), in non-isothermal conditions and in oxidative medium. It was shown the binary mixtures do not present interactions between ATV and excipients when stored under ambient conditions for 2 months, while under thermal stress, ATV presents interactions with sorbitol.

     

Comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography separations of pharmaceutical samples using dual Fused-Core columns in the 2nd dimension

This paper focuses on the application of RPLC × RPLC to pharmaceutical analysis and addresses the specific problem of separating co-eluting impurities/degradation products that maybe “hidden” within the peak envelope of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and thus may escape detection by conventional methods. A comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatograph (LC × LC) was constructed from commercially available HPLC equipment. This system utilizes two independently configurable 2nd dimension binary pumping systems to deliver independent flow rates, gradient profiles and mobile phase compositions to dual Fused-Core secondary columns. Very fast gradient separations (30 s total cycle time) were achieved at ambient temperature without excessive backpressure and without compromising optimal 1st dimension sampling rates. The operation of the interface is demonstrated for the analysis of a 1 mg/ml standard mixture containing 0.05% of a minor component. The practicality of using RPLC × RPLC for the analysis of actual co-eluting pharmaceutical degradation products, by exploiting pH-induced changes in selectivity, is also demonstrated using a three component mixture. This mixture (an API, an oxidation product of the API at 1.0%, w/w, and a photo degradant of the API at 0.5%, w/w) was used to assess the stability indicating nature of an established LC method for analysis of the API.     

Kinetic degradation study for the first licensed anti-influenza polymerase inhibitor,baloxavir marboxil,using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

The first licensed polymerase inhibitor, baloxavir marboxil was recently approved for the treatment of influenza A and B viruses. Furthermore, there is growing interest in testing the antiviral activity of baloxavir marboxil against Coronavirus. Despite its critical clinical value, there is no information on the degradation products, pathways, or kinetics of baloxavir marboxil under various stress conditions. In this study, a new high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection method for accurately quantifying baloxavir marboxil in the presence of its degradation products was developed. A study of degradation kinetics revealed that acidic, thermal neutral, and photolytic degradation reactions have zero-order kinetics, whereas basic and oxidative degradation reactions have first-order kinetics. The structural characterization of baloxavir marboxil degradation products was performed by coupling the optimized high-performance liquid chromatography method to the triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer. The proposed approach was validated according to the International Council for Harmonisation Q2 (R1) requirements for accuracy, precision, robustness, specificity, and linearity. The validated new method was successfully used to analyze baloxavir marboxil as raw material and its pharmaceutical dosage form, Xofluza.     

Comprehensive Insight into Chemical Stability of Important Antidiabetic Drug Vildagliptin Using Chromatography (LC-UV and UHPLC-DAD-MS) and Spectroscopy (Mid-IR and NIR with PCA)

During forced degradation, the intrinsic stability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) could be determined and possible impurities that would occur during the shelf life of the drug substance or the drug product could be estimated. Vildagliptin belongs to relatively new oral antidiabetic drugs named gliptins, inhibiting dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) and prolonging the activities of the endogenous incretin hormones. At the same time, some gliptins were shown as prone to degradation under specific pH and temperature conditions, as well as in the presence of some reactive excipients. Thus, forced degradation of vildagliptin was performed at high temperature in extreme pH and oxidative conditions. Then, selective LC-UV was used for quantitative determination of non-degraded vildagliptin in the presence of its degradation products and for degradation kinetics. Finally, identification of degradation products of vildagliptin was performed using an UHPLC-DAD-MS with positive ESI. Stability of vildagliptin was also examined in the presence of pharmaceutical excipients, using mid-IR and NIR with principal component analysis (PCA). At 70 °C almost complete disintegration of vildagliptin occurred in acidic, basic, and oxidative media. What is more, high degradation of vildagliptin following the pseudo first-order kinetics was observed at room temperature with calculated k values 4.76 × 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹, 3.11 × 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹, and 1.73 × 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹ for oxidative, basic and acidic conditions, respectively. Next, new degradation products of vildagliptin were detected using UHPLC-DAD-MS and their molecular structures were proposed. Three degradants were formed under basic and acidic conditions, and were identified as [(3-hydroxytricyclo- [3.3.1.13,7]decan-1-yl)amino]acetic acid, 1-{[(3-hydroxytricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decan-1-yl)amino]acetyl}-pyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid and its O-methyl ester. The fourth degradant was formed in basic, acidic, and oxidative conditions, and was identified as 1-{[(3-hydroxytricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]-decan-1-yl)amino]acetyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxamide. When stability of vildagliptin was examined in the presence of four excipients under high temperature and humidity, a visible impact of lactose, mannitol, magnesium stearate, and polyvinylpirrolidone was observed, affecting-NH- and CO groups of the drug. The obtained results (kinetic parameters, interactions with excipients) may serve pharmaceutical industry to prevent chemical changes in final pharmaceutical products containing vildagliptin. Other results (e.g., identification of new degradation products) may serve as a starting point for qualifying new degradants of vildagliptin as it is related to substances in pharmacopoeias.     

A PVC Membrane Sensor for Potentiometric Determination of Atorvastatin in Biological Samples and Pharmaceutical Preparations

The present article reports for the first time the use of Aliquat 336S‐atorvastatin as an electroactive material in a poly(vinyl chloride) matrix membrane sensor plasticized with ortho‐nitrophenyl‐octylether (o‐NPOE) or dioctylphthalate (DOP) for determination of atorvastatin in biological samples (human plasma) and in pharmaceutical preparations. The sensor shows fast, stable and reproducible response over the concentration range of 1.0×10^?7–1.0×10^?2 mol L^?1 atorvastatin with anionic slopes of 60.94±0.2 and 58.22±0.2 and pH range of 5.0–9.0 for o‐NPOE and DOP plasticized based membrane sensors, respectively. The response time of the sensor is stable and fast (10 s). Results were achieved with average recoveries of 99.5 % and 99.3 % and mean standard deviations of ±1.1 % and ±1.4 % for o‐NPOE and DOP plasticized based membrane sensors, respectively. The sensor exhibits high selectivity towards atorvastatin in the presence of many anions, drug excipients and diluents. Validation of the method according to the quality assurance standards shows suitability of the proposed sensors for use in the quality control assessment of the drug.     

Application of chemometric approach for development and validation of high performance liquid chromatography method for estimation of ropinirole hydrochloride

A systematic Quality by Design approach was employed for developing an isocratic reversed‐phase liquid chromatographic technique for the estimation of ropinirole hydrochloride in bulk drug and pharmaceutical formulations. LiChrospher RP 18‐5 Endcapped column (25 cm × 4.6 mm id) at ambient temperature (25 ± 2°C) was used for the chromatographic separation of the drug. The screening of factors influencing chromatographic separation of the active pharmaceutical ingredient was performed employing fractional factorial design to identify the influential factors. Optimization of the selected factors was carried out using central composite design for selecting the optimum chomatographic conditions. The mobile phase employed was constituted of Solvent A/Solvent B (65:35 v/v) (Solvent A [methanol/0.05 M ammonium acetate buffer, pH 7, 80:20 v/v] and Solvent B [high performance liquid chromatography grade water]) and used at 0.6 mL/min flow rate, while UV detection was performed at 250 nm. Linearity was achieved in the drug concentration range 5–100 µg/mL (R² = 0.9998) with limits of detection and quantification of 1.02 and 3.09 µg/mL, respectively. Method validation was performed as per ICH guidelines followed by forced degradation studies, which indicated good specificity of the developed method for detecting ropinirole hydrochloride and its possible degradation products in the bulk drug and pharmaceutical formulations.     

HPLC analysis of a syrup containing nimesulide and its hydrolytic degradation product

The present paper deals with the evaluation of nimesulide, 2-phenoxy-4-nitroaniline, the main hydrolytic degradation product of nimesulide, of methylparaben and propylparaben, and eventually of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid by HPLC with UV detection at 254 nm in syrup as a pharmaceutical formulation. HPLC analysis was employed on the reversed phase C18 with methanol and 0.01 M dibasic ammonium phosphate (ρ _r = 60: 40, pH 4.0). Validation was performed using standards and a pharmaceutical preparation containing the compounds described above.     

Design of Copper Microfabricated Potentiometric Sensor for in-line Monitoring of Neostigmine Degradation Kinetics

The quality of pharmaceutical products is critical for human health. Drug development requires tools to assess the presence of degradation products and contaminants during the manufacturing and storage processes. Accelerated stress degradation and kinetic studies play a vital role in predicting final product stability. This work describes the design of potentiometric sensor based on copper microfabricated electrodes for in-line tracking the degradation kinetics of neostigmine. The proposed electrochemical technique provides a continuous profile for the hydrolysis of NEO under different temperatures and pH. The hydrolysis activation energy was found to be 18.88 kcal mol⁻¹ which was aligned with the reported hydrolysable ester values. Consequently, the kinetic data analysis is crucial to predict the optimum analysis and storage conditions.     

Monitoring of the degradation kinetics of diatrizoate sodium to its cytotoxic degradant using a stability‐indicating high‐performance liquid chromatographic method

The X‐ray diagnostic agent sodium diatrizoate (DTA) was studied for chemical degradation. The 3,5‐diamino derivative was found to be the alkaline and acidic degradation product. The 3,5‐diamino degradate is also the synthetic precursor of DTA and it is proved to have cytotoxic and mutagenic effects. A sensitive, selective and precise high‐performance liquid chromatographic stability‐indicating method for the determination of DTA in the presence of its acidic degradation product and in pharmaceutical formulation was developed and validated. Owing to the high toxicity of the degradation product, the kinetics of the acidic degradation process was monitored by the developed RP‐HPLC method. The reaction was found to follow pseudo‐first order kinetics. The kinetic parameters such as rate constant (K ) and half‐life (t _½) were calculated under different temperatures and acid concentrations; activation energy was estimated from the Arrhenius plot. The developed RP‐HPLC method depends on isocratic elution of a mobile phase composed of methanol–water (25:75 v /v; pH adjusted with phosphoric acid), and UV detection at 238 nm. The method showed good linearity over a concentration range of 2–100 μg/mL with mean percentage recovery of 100.04 ± 1.07. The selectivity of the proposed method was tested using laboratory‐prepared mixtures. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of DTA in pharmaceutical dosage forms without interference from other dosage form additives and the results were statistically compared with the official USP method. Validation of the proposed method was performed according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines.     

Novel microwell-based spectrophotometric assay for determination of atorvastatin calcium in its pharmaceutical formulations

The formation of a colored charge-transfer (CT) complex between atorvastatin calcium (ATR-Ca) as a n-electron donor and 2, 3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) as a π-electron acceptor was investigated, for the first time. The spectral characteristics of the CT complex have been described, and the reaction mechanism has been proved by computational molecular modeling. The reaction was employed in the development of a novel microwell-based spectrophotometric assay for determination of ATR-Ca in its pharmaceutical formulations. The proposed assay was carried out in 96-microwell plates. The absorbance of the colored-CT complex was measured at 460 nm by microwell-plate absorbance reader. The optimum conditions of the reaction and the analytical procedures of the assay were established. Under the optimum conditions, linear relationship with good correlation coefficient (0.9995) was found between the absorbance and the concentration of ATR-Ca in the range of 10-150 μg/well. The limits of detection and quantitation were 5.3 and 15.8 μg/well, respectively. No interference was observed from the additives that are present in the pharmaceutical formulation or from the drugs that are co-formulated with ATR-Ca in its combined formulations. The assay was successfully applied to the analysis of ATR-Ca in its pharmaceutical dosage forms with good accuracy and precision. The assay described herein has great practical value in the routine analysis of ATR-Ca in quality control laboratories, as it has high throughput property, consumes minimum volume of organic solvent thus it offers the reduction in the exposures of the analysts to the toxic effects of organic solvents, and reduction in the analysis cost by 50-fold. Although the proposed assay was validated for ATR-Ca, however, the same methodology could be used for any electron-donating analyte for which a CT reaction can be performed.     

A Validated Stability-Indicating TLC Method for Determination of Forskolin in Crude Drug and Pharmaceutical Dosage Form

A simple, accurate, selective, precise, economical and stability-indicating high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method for analysis of forskolin in crude drug and in pharmaceutical dosage form was developed and validated. The method was developed on TLC aluminium plates precoated with silica gel 60F-254 using solvent system benzene:methanol (9:1, v/v), which gives compact spot of forskolin (R _f value 0.25 ± 0.02). Densitometric analysis of forskolin was carried out in the absorbance mode at 545 nm after spraying with anisaldehyde sulphuric acid. The linear regression analysis data for the calibration plots showed good linear relationship with r = 0.994 and 0.994 with respect to peak height and peak area, respectively, in the concentration range 100–1,000 ng per spot. The limits of detection and quantification were 8.1 and 26.9 ng per spot, respectively. The proposed method was applied for determination of forskolin in Coleus forskohlii root and in capsule dosage forms, which showed 0.18 and 0.57% w/w of forskolin. Forskolin was subjected to acid and alkali hydrolysis, oxidation, photodegradation and heat degradation. It was observed that the drug is susceptible to acid, base hydrolysis, oxidation, photo-oxidation and heat degradation. Statistical analysis proves that the method is repeatable, selective and accurate for the estimation of forskolin in crude drug and in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The developed method effectively resolved the forskolin from components of C. forskohlii root, from excipients of capsule as well as the degradation products of forskolin hence, it can be employed for routine analysis and as a stability-indicating method.     

Rapid identification of plant materials by wooden-tip electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and a strategy to differentiate the bulbs of Fritillaria

The counterfeit plant products, especially by using incorrect plant materials in pharmaceutical industry, have become a global problem. The plant materials belonging to closely related species but differing in medicinal properties are difficult to be identified. Here, a novel and generally applicable approach to identify the sources of plant materials was developed, which was based on the use of wooden-tip electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (wooden-tip ESI-MS) and multivariate statistical analysis of unidentified MS features (non-targeted). Using this approach, six officinal species of Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus had been successfully differentiated. In addition, Fritillariae Pallidiflorae Bulbus, a common adulterant of Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus, was also identified by using the strategy reported here. Compared with DNA phylogenetic trees, our approach provided finer resolution in distinguishing the closely related Fritillaria species. By combining wooden-tip ESI-MS and multivariate statistical analysis, a useful method was developed here for rapid identification of the sources of herbs, which showed promising perspectives in tracking the supply chain of pharmaceutical suppliers.