A target and non-target strategy for identification or characterization of the chemical ingredients in Chinese herb preparation Shuang-Huang-Lian oral liquid by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

A target and non-target strategy based on in-house chemical components library was developed for rapid and comprehensive analysis of complicated components from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparation Shuang-Huang-Lian oral liquid (SHL). The sample was analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Qtof MS) using generic acquisition parameters. Automated detection and data filtering were performed on the UNIFI(TM) software and the detected peaks were evaluated against an in-house library. As a result, a total of 170 chemical components (110 target compounds and 60 non-target ones) were identified or tentatively characterized, including 54 flavonoids, 30 phenylethanoid glycosides, 16 iridoid glycosides, 14 lignans, 32 organic acids, 19 triterpenoid saponins and 5 other types compounds. Among them, 44 compounds were further confirmed by comparison with reference standards. It demonstrated that this systematical approach could be successfully applied for rapid identification of multiple compounds in TCM and its preparations. Furthermore, this work established the foundation for the further investigation on the metabolic fates of multiple ingredients in SHL.