Analysis of Bovine Serum Albumin Ligands from Puerariae flos Using Ultrafiltration Combined with HPLC-MS

Rapid screening techniques for identification of active compounds from natural products are important not only for clarification of the therapeutic material basis, but also for supplying suitable chemical markers for quality control. In the present study, ultrafiltration combined with high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) was developed and conducted to screen and identify bovine serum albumin (BSA) bound ligands from Puerariae flos. Fundamental parameters affecting the screening like incubation time, BSA concentration, pH, and temperature were studied and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, nine active compounds were identified by UV and MS data. The results indicated that this method was able to screen and identify BSA bound ligands form natural products without the need of preparative isolation techniques. Moreover, the method has more effective with easier operation procedures.