| Summary: | Background: Among the various ginseng strains, Shizhu ginseng is endemic to China, mainly distributed in Kuandian Manchu Autonomous County (Liaoning Province, China); however, not much is known about the compounds (especially saponins) in Shizhu ginseng.
Methods: A rapid, sensitive, and reliable ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with MS/MS (UHPLC–MS/MS) method was developed to separate and identify saponins in Shizhu ginseng.
Results: The separation was carried out on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) with acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution as the mobile phase under a gradient elution at 40°C. The detection was performed on a Micromass Quattro Micro API mass spectrometer equipped with electrospray ionization source in both positive and negative modes. Under the optimized conditions, a total of 31 saponins were identified or tentatively characterized by comparing retention time and MS data with related literatures and reference substances.
Conclusion: The developed UHPLC–MS/MS method was suitable for identifying and characterizing the chemical constituents in Shizhu ginseng, which provided a helpful chemical basis for further research on Shizhu ginseng.
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