UPLC/Q-TOF-MS Analysis for Identification of Hydrophilic Phenolics and Lipophilic Diterpenoids from Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae

A rapid method has been used for simultaneous identification of both hydrophilic and lipophilic compounds from Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae (RSM, the root of Salvia miltiorrhiza BGE.) by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS). A total of 58 compounds extracted by methanol were detected and tentatively identified within 20 min, including hydrophilic phenolics, lipophilic diterpenoids, a verbascose, and several organic acids. These compounds were separated on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column and identified based on tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) fragmentation patterns under the positive and negative ion modes, respectively. Among them, micranthin B and 9-oxo-10E, 12Z-octadecadienoic acid were reported in RSM for the first time. Their fragmentation patterns in electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS/MS spectra were first investigated by matching their accurate molecular masses. This contribution presented one of the first reports on the analysis of hydrophilic phenolics and lipophilic diterpenoids from Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae using UPLC/Q-TOF-MS. The results demonstrated that UPLC/Q-TOF-MS method could be applied to rapidly and expediently describe and provide comprehensive chemical information for simultaneous analysis of two different polar components in RSM.