Simultaneous Determination of Anthraquinone, Flavonoids, and Phenolic Antidiabetic Compounds from Cassia auriculata Seeds by Validated UHPLC Based MS/MS Method

A systematic isolation and characterization study for Cassia auriculata (CA) seeds resulted in identifying antidiabetic compounds 1,3,8-trihydroxyanthraquinone and quercetin, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, gallic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, and ellagic acid. The ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography based triple quadrupole mass spectrometry methodology was developed and validated for simultaneous identification and confirmation of these compounds from CA seeds. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) based quantification method was developed with MRM optimizer software for MS1 and MS2 mass analysis. The method was optimized on precursor ions and product ions with the ion ratio of each compound. The calibration curves of seven bioactive analytes showed excellent linearity (r2 ≥ 0.99). The quantitation results found precise (RSD, < 10 %) with good recoveries (84.58 to 101.42%). The matrix effect and extraction recoveries were found within the range (91.66 to 102.11%) for the CA seeds. This is the first MS/MS-based methodology applied to quantifying seven antidiabetic compounds in CA seeds and its extract for quality control purposes.