A rapid ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric method for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the constituents of the flower of Trollius ledibouri Reichb

A rapid ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric (UPLC–ESI-MS/MS) method was developed for the qualitative and quantitative determination of the constituents of the flower of Trollius ledibouri Reichb. The analysis was performed on an AcQuity UPLC™ BEH C₁₈ column using gradient elution with a mobile phase of 0.1% acetic acid and acetonitrile over 20 min. A tandem quadrupole spectrometer operating in either full scan mode or in MS/MS mode for multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the constituents, respectively. According to the mass spectrometric fragmentation mechanism and UPLC–ESI-MS/MS data, the chemical structures of 15 constituents of the flower of T. ledibouri Reichb. were identified on-line without time-consuming isolation and four of them, 2″-O-β-l-galactopyranosylorientin, 2″-O-β-arabinopyranosylorientin, orientin and vitexin, were quantified. The limits of quantification of these four flavonoids were 540, 321, 515 and 220 μg g⁻¹ plant material, respectively. Four commercial samples from different sources were analyzed. The UPLC–ESI-MS/MS method for analyzing the constituents can be used to evaluate the quality of the flower of T. ledibouri Reichb.