Qu Haibin

Identification of major constituents in the traditional Chinese medicine "QI-SHEN-YI-QI" dropping pill by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

An HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS(n) method was developed for simultaneous analysis of major chemical constituents in QI-SHEN-YI-QI dropping pill, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) widely used for treating cardiovascular diseases. The chromatographic separation was performed on an intertsil ODS-3 C(18) column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm), whilst water with 0.05% acetic acid and acetonitrile were used as mobile phase. On the basis of the characteristic UV absorption profile, the information of molecular weight, and structure provided by ESI-MS(n), 31 constituents derived from Astragalus membranaceus, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, and Panax notoginseng, were detected and 20 of them were identified in this study. The proposed method contributes to the quality control of QI-SHEN-YI-QI dropping pill.

Characterisation of the Degradation of Salvianolic Acid B Using an On-line Spectroscopic Analysis System and Multivariate Curve Resolution

INTRODUCTIONnChinese herbal medicines contain complex ingredients that are unstable during the manufacturing process. Current off-line methods are usually time-consuming and inaccurate.nnnOBJECTIVEnThe aim of this study was to develop a continuous-flow-based on-line spectroscopic system for monitoring the degradation of unstable compounds in Chinese herbal medicines.nnnMETHODOLOGYnAn on-line spectroscopic analysis system in the evaluation of the degradation of unstable compounds was implemented, using salvianolic acid B from Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae) as a model compound. Resolution of the mixture spectra obtained during the reaction was performed with multivariate curve resolution (MCR), and the pure spectra and kinetic profiles of reactant species were reconstructed.nnnRESULTSnThe degradation process of salvianolic acid B is probably a consecutive two-step reaction of the form Au2009→u2009Bu2009→u2009C, where A is salvianolic acid B, and B and C are the intermediate and final products, respectively. The intermediate and final products were suggested to be a mixture of lithospermic acid and danshensu [3-(3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl) lactic acid], and a mixture of danshensu and salvianolic acid A, respectively.nnnCONCLUSIONnThe findings suggested that the combined use of on-line spectroscopic analysis and MCR might be a cheap, readily available, sensitive tool to monitor the transformation of unstable components of Chinese herbal medicines.