Rapid Characterization of Constituents in Tribulus terrestris from Different Habitats by UHPLC/Q-TOF MS

  • Wei Zheng
  • Fangxu Wang
  • Yang Zhao
  • Xinguang Sun
  • Liping Kang
  • Ziquan Fan
  • Lirui Qiao
  • Renyi Yan
  • Shuchen Liu
  • Baiping Ma
Research Article
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Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

A strategy for rapid identification of the chemical constituents from crude extracts of Tribulus terrestris was proposed using an informatics platform for the UHPLC/Q-TOF MSE data analyses. This strategy mainly utilizes neutral losses, characteristic fragments, and in-house library to rapidly identify the structure of the compounds. With this strategy, rapid characterization of the chemical components of T. terrestris from Beijing, China was successfully achieved. A total of 82 steroidal saponins and nine flavonoids were identified or tentatively identified from T. terrestris. Among them, 15 new components were deduced based on retention times and characteristic MS fragmentation patterns. Furthermore, the chemical components of T. terrestris, including the other two samples from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, China, and Rome, Italy, were also identified with this strategy. Altogether, 141 chemical components were identified from these three samples, of which 39 components were identified or tentatively identified as new compounds, including 35 groups of isomers. It demonstrated that this strategy provided an efficient protocol for the rapid identification of chemical constituents in complex samples such as traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) by UHPLC/Q-TOF MSE with informatics platform.

Graphical Abstract

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Keywords

Tribulus terrestris Rapid characterization UHPLC/Q-TOF MS informatics platform of MS data 
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Copyright information

© American Society for Mass Spectrometry 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Wei Zheng
    • 1
    • 2
  • Fangxu Wang
    • 1
  • Yang Zhao
    • 1
  • Xinguang Sun
    • 1
  • Liping Kang
    • 1
    • 3
  • Ziquan Fan
    • 4
  • Lirui Qiao
    • 4
  • Renyi Yan
    • 1
  • Shuchen Liu
    • 1
  • Baiping Ma
    • 1
  1. 1.Beijing Institute of Radiation MedicineBeijingChina
  2. 2.Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese MedicineTianjinPeople’s Republic of China
  3. 3.State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Dao-di HerbsNational Resource Center for Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical SciencesBeijingChina
  4. 4.Waters Technology (Shanghai) Co., LtdShanghaiChina

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