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Paeoniae Radix Alba (PRA, dried root of Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) is a widely used as traditional Chinese medicine and tannins are one of their main bioactive ingredients. However, there are rarely systematically investigated in this study. This study aimed to establish a rapid, high selective, high sensitive and effective method based on UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS for simultaneous identification the tannins in PRA. Separation was performed on Thermo Scientific Hypersil GOLD™ aQ (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.9 μm) using gradient elution consist of 0.1% formic acid acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid water as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The mass spectrometer was operated with Q-Exactive Orbitrap spectrometer in negative ion mode. Finally, a total of 106 constituents were identified in PRA by UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS, 75 of those were reported from PRA for the first time. This result laid the foundation for in-depth research on the material basis efficacy and provided scientific basis for the selection of quality marker of PRA.

Sabia schumanniana Diels (SSD) is a plant whose stems are used in traditional folk medicine for the treatment of lumbago and arthralgia. Previous studies have revealed chemical constituents of SSD, including triterpenoids and aporphine alkaloids. Aporphine alkaloids contain a variety of active components, which might facilitate the effective treatment of lumbago and arthralgia. However, only 5-oxoaporphine (fuseine) has been discovered in SSD to date. In this study, we sought to systematically identify the aporphine alkaloids in SSD. We established a fast and reliable method for the detection and identification of these aporphine alkaloids based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC)-Q-Exactive-Orbitrap/mass spectrometry combined with parallel reaction monitoring (PRM). We separated all of the analyzed samples using a Thermo Scientific Hypersil GOLD™ aQ C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.9 μm). Finally, we identified a total of 70 compounds by using data such as retention times and diagnostic ions. No fewer than 69 of these SSD aporphine alkaloids have been reported here for the first time. These findings may assist in future studies concerning this plant and will ultimately contribute to the research and development of new drugs.

Aurantio-obtusin (AO) is a major anthraquinone compound isolated from Cassiae Semen or Duhaldea nervosa, which possesses diverse pharmacological effects. Previous studies have shown that it has a good effect on lowering blood lipids and treating various diseases. A few studies have also reported about its metabolites. A rapid and reliable method using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometry and multiple data-processing technologies was established to investigate the metabolites of AO in the plasma and various tissues of rats, including the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidneys, and brain. Finally, a total of 36 metabolites were identified in the plasma of rats, which could be very beneficial for understanding the effective form of AO metabolites leading to new drug discovery. The result demonstrated that this strategy, especially parallel reaction monitoring, has shown a wide range of applications in the identification of metabolites.