A Comparative Study on Analysis of Ginsenosides in American Ginseng Root Residue by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS and UPLC-HRMS-MS/MS

Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), a popular herbal and nutritional supplement consumed worldwide, has been demonstrated to possess vital biological activities, which can be attributed to the presence of ginsenosides. However, the presence of ginsenosides in ginseng root residue, a by-product obtained during processing of ginseng beverage, remains unexplored. The objectives of this study were to develop a high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection-mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS) and an ultra-high-performance-liquid-chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS-MS/MS) method for the comparison of ginsenoside analysis in ginseng root residue. Results showed that by employing a Supelco Ascentis Express C18 column (150 × 4.6 mm ID, particle size 2.7 μm) and a gradient mobile phase of deionized water and acetonitrile with a flow rate at 1 mL/min and detection at 205 nm, a total of 10 ginsenosides, including internal standard saikosaponin A, were separated within 18 min and detected by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS. Whereas with UPLC-HRMS-MS/MS, all the 10 ginsenosides were separated within six minutes by using an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (50 × 2.1 mm ID, particle size 1.7 μm, 130 Å) and a gradient mobile phase of ammonium acetate and acetonitrile with column temperature at 50 °C, flow rate at 0.4 mL/min and detection by selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. High accuracy and precision was shown, with limit of quantitation (LOQ) ranging from 0.2–1.9 μg/g for HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS and 0.269–6.640 ng/g for UPLC-HRMS-MS/MS. The contents of nine ginsenosides in the ginseng root residue ranged from <LOQ-26.39 mg/g by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS and <LOQ-21.25 mg/g by UPLC-HRMS-MS/MS, with a total amount of 38.37 and 34.71 mg/g, respectively.