Identification of phenolics and nucleoside derivatives in Gastrodia elata by HPLC‐UV‐MS

Abstract An HPLC‐UV‐MS method for simultaneous identification of predominant phenolics and minor nucleoside derivatives in Gastrodia elata was developed, which was based on their UV and MS characteristics summarized through a series of homemade reference standard experiments. Phenolics showed characteristic UV λ max at 267 nm, [M + NH 4 ] + base peak in positive mode and [M–H] – base peak in negative mode while nucleosides exhibited UV λ max at 255 nm, [M + H] + , [M–H + 2H 2 O] – or [M–H + CH 3 COOH] – . Phenolics conjugates mainly underwent the consecutive loss of gastrodin residue (–268 U) and the combined loss of H 2 O and CO 2 from the citric acid unit under negative MS/MS conditions whereas nucleosides simply lost the ribose (–132 U) under positive MS/MS conditions. According to these characteristics, a special pattern under MS/MS conditions and reported compound data for G. elata in the literature, not only 15 phenolics were identified but also 6 nucleoside derivatives were identified. Among these compounds, seven phenolics and three nucleoside derivatives have not been reported yet from G. elata .