Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of Microctis Folium (the leaves of Microcos paniculata L.) by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Microctis Folium (MF), the leaves of Microcos paniculata L., which is widely used as a traditional Chinese medicine and a healthy tea, show various biological activities including antioxidant, cardiovascular risk, and so on. However, few studies on the quality control for this herbal medicine have been reported. In this paper, a reliable and sensitive online high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection and electrospray ionization tandem ion trap mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS) method for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the characteristic chemical constituents of MF was developed. 32 compounds including 10 flavans, 16 flavonoid glycosides, 5 lignan glycosides and 1 megastigmadien glycoside were identified from MF, among which lignan glycosides and megastigmadien glycoside were first reported from the genus Microcos. Besides, based on HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS data, a standardized HPLC fingerprint and a quantitative method were established by analyzing 13 batches of commercial herbal samples by HPLC with ultraviolet-visible (UV) detection method. Meanwhile, three major bioactive constituents including kaempferol-3-O-β-D-glucoside, narcissi and isorhamnetin-3-O-β-D-glucoside in MF were simultaneously determined with the same method, which could differentiate good quality batches from counterfeits. The results revealed that this HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS analytical method established could be adopted as the comprehensive quality control method of MF.