Rapid Screening and Characterization of Triterpene Saponins from the Root of Phytolacca acinosa Roxb by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled to Electrospray Ionization and Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Triterpene saponins (TSs) are important bioactive constituents with structural diversity widely distributed in many plants. The root of Phytolacca acinosa Roxb (RPa) has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine. However, TSs as the main active ingredients in RPa have not been fully characterized. Here, we profiled TSs from RPa by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS). We tentatively identified 29 TSs, including 13 that had not been reported previously from this plant. This study indicates that HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS is an effective and rapid method for the characterization of complicated TSs in herbal extracts.