Chemical Investigation of Saponins in Different Parts of <em>Panax notoginseng </em>by Pressurized Liquid Extraction and Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray Ionization-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

A pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) method was developed for the qualitative determination of saponins in different parts of <em>P. notoginseng</em>, including rhizome, root, fibre root, seed, stem, leaf and flower. The samples were extracted using PLE. The analysis was achieved on a Zorbax SB-C18 column with gradient elution of acetonitrile and 8 mM aqueous ammonium acetate as mobile phase. The mass spectrometer was operated in the negative ion mode using the electrospray ionization, and a collision induced dissociation (CID) experiment was also carried out to aid the identification of compounds. Forty one saponins were identified in different parts of <em>P. notoginseng</em> according to the fragmentation patterns and literature reports, among them, 21 saponins were confirmed by comparing the retention time and ESI-MS data with those of standard compounds. The results showed that the chemical characteristics were obviously diverse in different parts of <em>P. notoginseng</em>, which is helpful for pharmacological evaluation and quality control of <em>P. notoginseng.</em>

Keywords

• different parts of &lt;em&gt;Panax notoginseng&lt;/em&gt;
• saponin
• pressurized liquid extraction
• liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry