Fingerprint analysis and multi-component determination of Zibu Piyin recipe by HPLC with DAD and Q-TOF/MS method

Zibu Piyin recipe (ZBPYR), a traditional Chinese medicine formula, is used for curing dementia caused by diabetes. For quality control of ZBPYR, fingerprint analysis and qualitative analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a diode-array detector, and confirmation using HPLC coupled with electrospray ionisation quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q-TOF-MS) were undertaken. HPLC fingerprint consisting of 34 common peaks was developed among 10 batches of ZBPYR, in which 7 common peaks were identified in comparison with the authentic standards and detected simultaneously. Furthermore, these seven compounds were verified by HPLC-Q-TOF-MS methods. The method can be applied to the quality control of ZBPYR.