Rapid profiling of cantharidin analogs in Mylabris phalerata Pallas by ultra-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight–tandem mass spectrometry

We evaluated the protective effect and toxicity of extracts from Mylabris phalerata Pallas by measuring the activated partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time, venous thrombosis and acute toxicity in rats. Results showed the petroleum ether and water fractions of M. phalerata inhibited thrombosis but hardly prolonged the activated partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time in rats. The trichloromethane fraction had obvious toxicity with an LD₅₀ of 0.2 g/kg in vivo, and contained many cantharidin analogs (CAs) by ultra-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole ion trap–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–QTRAP–MS/MS). CAs are the major potential bioactivity constituent in M. phalerata. An effective and reliable UPLC–QTRAP–MS/MS method was successfully developed to separate and identify CAs. The fragmentation patterns of five purified compounds were applied to elucidate the structure of their analogs. Thirty-four CAs were characterized or tentatively identified, eight of which are proposed to be novel compounds ( 13 – 17 , 20 , 21 , 23 ), and their fragmentation patterns were investigated for the first time. Most importantly, a rapid and reliable UPLC–MS method was developed to identify the CAs of M. phalerata. This method has contributed to the discovery of most of these unknown analogs or their metabolites in M. phalerata effectively and quickly, and does not rely on limited chemical structural diversity libraries.