Analysis of constituents of Iris rhizomes. Part I: High performance liquid chromatographic‐particle beam‐mass spectral analysis of iridals from Iris pallida rhizomes

Abstract Iridals are a class of triterpenoids characteristic of the Iris genera: they have been demonstrated to be the precursors of irones, a group of terpenoids very well known for their smell of violets. This paper reports the results of the analysis of Iris pallida extracts carried out by high performance liquid chromatography coupled through a particle beam interface to a mass spectrometer in different ionization modes. Fourteen iridals and fatty acid iridal esters were characterized in the Iris pallida rhizome extracts under investigation. The direct identification of iridal myristates is reported here for the first time.