Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometric analysis of puerarin and its metabolite in human urine

A specific LG-MS method was developed that allowed simultaneous determination of puerarin (PU) and its major metabolite, daidzein (DA), in human urine samples. PU and DA were separated on a packed capillary ODS column with on column concentration. Identification and quantification of the analytes were performed with ESI-Q-TOF mass spectroscopy in negative ionization mode. The method was validated, yielding calibration curves with correlation coefficients greater than 0.998. The LOQ for PU and DA from human urine samples was 0.1 and 0.05 nmol/mL, respectively. Assay accuracy and precision of quality control samples were within +/- 15%. Recoveries of PU and DA in spiked samples were in the range of 79.6-90.4 and 82.3-92.4%, respectively.