Rapid determination of yunaconitine and related alkaloids in aconites and aconite‐containing drugs by ultra high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Yunaconitine (YAC) is a toxic aconite alkaloid that is considered to be a hidden aconite poison since it is frequently found in body fluids from aconite poisoning patients, but has not been well studied in commonly used herbal drugs. In this paper, a rapid and sensitive ultra high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC‐MS/MS) detection combined with microwave‐assisted extraction (MAE) was developed for high throughput simultaneous determination of YAC and six other toxic aconite alkaloids in 31 samples of crude, processed aconites and aconite‐containing drugs. The optimized method showed excellent linearity, precision, accuracy and recovery for all target compounds with short run time. YAC was detected in some samples with contents from 0.015 to 10.41 mg/g. This is the first report on the determination of YAC in Radix Aconiti, Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii and aconite‐containing drugs. This newly developed method facilitates the rapid screening of YAC and related toxic aconite alkaloids and allows YAC to be used as a chemical marker for the quality control of aconites and aconite‐containing drugs. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.