Chemical profiling of Banxia-Baizhu-Tianma decoction by ultra-fast liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

Banxia-Baizhu-Tianma decoction (BBTD) is a compound formulae of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has been clinically used for treatments of neural vertigo, hypertension and epilepsy with a long history. In this study, with an ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UFLC-Q-TOF-MS) method, a total of 88 components in BBTD were identified by the accurate masses and fragmentation pathways including 19 flavonoids, 8 lactones, 12 triterpenoids, 10 phenolics, 14 amino acids, 13 nucleobases and nucleosides, 7 organic acids, and 5 other compounds. In addition, under the same chromatographic conditions, we developed an ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometry (UFLC-Q-TRAP-MS) method to simultaneously quantify 20 bioactive components in multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The assay method was validated in terms of linearity, precision, repeatability, recovery and was successfully applied for determination of 12 batches of BBTD. We hope that this study work would help to reveal the chemical profiling and provide a valuable and reliable approach for quality evaluation and even efficacy material basis study of BBTD.