Abstract
Zibushengfa Tablet is a widely consumed traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription. However, its main bioactives remain unclear and its pharmacopeia quality-marker (Q-marker) is poorly characterized nowadays. The present study analyzed its lyophilized aqueous powder using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometry. Through comparison with authentic standards in the library, 46 bioactives were putatively identified, including quinic acid, D-gluconic acid, gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, 5-caffeoylquinic acid, L-tryptophan, salidroside, (+)-catechin hydrate, caffeic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, mangiferin, ferulic acid, myricetin-3-O-galactoside, 2,3,5,4’-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-glucoside, forsythoside B, myricitrin, rutin, hyperoside, acteoside, 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid, myricetin, senkyunolide A, isochlorogenic acid C, quercitrin, (+)-epipinoresinol, quercetin, biochanin A, calycosin, luteolin, wedelolactone, calycosin-7-O-glucoside, chrysoeriol, trans-cinnamic acid, formononetin, chrysin, 3,3’,4’,5,6,7,8-heptamethoxyflavone, Z-ligustilide, amentoflavone, tangeretin, hinokiflavone, emodin, physcion, linoleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, and palmitic acid ethyl ester. Of these, four pairs of isomers were successfully differentiated using the newly established library-filtering strategy. On this basis, senkyunolide A, amentoflavone, quercetin, quercitrin, and wedelolactone are preliminarily suggested as additional quality-markers for the consideration by Pharmacopeia Committee, to prevent the possible adulterate.
Graphical Abstract
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available.