Determination of Five Pharmacologically Active Compounds Extracted from Rhodiola for Natural Product Drug Discovery with HPLC‐APCI‐MS

Abstract

A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography‐atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC‐APCI‐MS) assay for the determination of five pharmacologically active compounds (PAC) extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine, Rhodiola, namely salidroside, tyrosol, rhodionin, gallic acid, and ethyl gallate has been developed. In this method, PAC could be baseline separated and detected with DAD at 275 nm. The validation of the method, including sensitivity, linearity, repeatability, and recovery, was examined. The linear calibration curves were acquired with correlation coefficient >0.999 and the limits of detection LOD (at a signal‐to‐noise ratio=3:1) were between 0.058 and 1.500 µmol/L. It was found, that the amounts of PAC varied with different species of Rhodiola. The established method is rapid and reproducible for the separation of five natural pharmacologically active compounds from extracts of Rhodiola with satisfactory results.

Keywords:

• High performance liquid chromatography
• Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry
• Pharmacologically active compounds
• Rhodiola

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Mr Yongfei Ming and Yunwei Shi for their kind technical assistance. This work was financed by grants from the “Wester Light” programme of talent cultivation of The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Ministry of the Personnel of China.