HPLC-TOF/MS in identification of chemical constituents of Fuzhengpingxiao Capsule

Objective To use high-performance liquid chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry(HPLC-TOF/MS) for analyzing the chemical constituents of Fuzhengpingxiao Capsule.Methods The separation was performed on a Agilent Eclipse plus C18 reverse phase column(4.6 mm×250 mm,5 μm).The mobile phase consisted of water containing 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile was used as gradient elute.The flow rate was 1 ml/min,the post-column split ratio was 31,and the temperature of column was 25℃.Time-of-flight mass spectrometer(TOF/MS) and electrospray ion source(ESI) was employed for qualitative analysis under both positive and negative ion mode,and mass scan range was m/z 100-1 100.Results A total of 247 major chemical constituents were identified in Fuzhengpingxiao Capsule by HPLC-TOF/MS,including 168 in positive mode,103 in negative mode,and 24 in both.The source herb of the components were identified.Conclusion An efficient HPLC-TOF/MS approach has been established for studying the chemical constituents in Fuzhengpingxiao Capsule,which paves a way for the quality control and further in vivo studies of the preparation.