Chemical Profiling and Quality Evaluation of Gualou-Xiebai Herbal Pair by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry With Feature-Based Molecular Network and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography With Charged Aerosol Detector

Abstract

Gualou-Xiebai (GX), a traditional Chinese herbal pair, is often used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However, the investigation into the components of GX is not comprehensive enough. In order to obtain the chemical profile of GX, a method that combined mass spectrometry with a feature-based molecular network was utilized for the identification of its complex constituents. In total, 121 compounds were annotated and four potential new compounds were inferred. In addition, an optimized fingerprint analysis method using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a charged aerosol detector was established, which was further validated and implemented for the simultaneous quantification of 17 ingredients in GX, including the semi-quantitative analysis of 13 allium saponins and the quantitative analysis of four fatty acids. This method achieved the detection of no ultraviolet absorption constituents in GX. The results have an important impact on revealing the chemical basis of GX and lay a foundation for further quality assessment.