• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.70-75
• /
• 2018

Acer tegmentosum Maxim (ATM) has been used to treat hepatic disorders in traditional oriental medicine. However, there is little information about phytochemical constituents for quality control of ATM. In this study, we developed and established a simultaneous analytical method of the 10 marker compounds (three coumarins, 3 flavonoids, 1 lignan, 3 phenolics) in ATM using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Chromatographic separation of ten target analytes was achieved with a Waters Acquity UPLC BEH $C_{18}$ analytical column ($2.1{\times}100mm$, $1.7{\mu}m$), using a mobile phase of 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in water and acetonitrile with gradient elution. Identifications and quantitation of all analytes were performed using a Q-Exactive UPLC-MS/MS system. Correlation coefficients of the calibration curve for all analytes were ${\geq}0.9986$. The values of limits of detection and quantification of all analytes were 0.5-10.0 and 5.0-50.0 ng/mL, respectively. The established UPLC-MS/MS method successfully identified all target analytes in ATM, and the phytochemicals were 0.01-67.98 mg/g in its lyophilized water extract.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.276-282
• /
• 2014

An accurate and sensitive analytical method was established for the simultaneous determination of synephrine and n-methyltyramine contents by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with a fluorescence detector (FLD). A 70:30 (v/v) mixture of 10 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and acetonitrile was used as the mobile phase. The coefficient of correlation ($r^2$) was 0.9999 for both synephrine and n-methyltyramine, and their limits of detection (LOD) were 0.02 and 0.01 mg/kg, respectively. The percentage recoveries for synephrine and n-methyltyramine were 96.4% and 100.9%, respectively, from bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) samples. The synephrine and n-methyltyramine contents were 38.07-118.21 mg/kg and 0.27-0.56 mg/kg, respectively, in the orange fruit samples, while they were 14.61-120.39 mg/kg and up to 3.34 mg/kg, respectively, in the tested commercial orange juice samples. The differences in synephrine and n-methyltyramine content between orange fruit and commercial orange juice were not significant (p<0.05). These results suggest that UPLC-FLD can be applied to develop an analytical method of quality control for commercial orange juice.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 2014

Discriminating between two herbal medicines (Panax ginseng and Panax quinquefolius), with similar chemical and physical properties but different therapeutic effects, is a very serious and difficult problem. Differentiation between two processed ginseng genera is even more difficult because the characteristics of their appearance are very similar. An ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF MS)-based metabolomic technique was applied for the metabolite profiling of 40 processed P. ginseng and processed P. quinquefolius. Currently known biomarkers such as ginsenoside Rf and F11 have been used for the analysis using the UPLC-photodiode array detector. However, this method was not able to fully discriminate between the two processed ginseng genera. Thus, an optimized UPLC-QTOF-based metabolic profiling method was adapted for the analysis and evaluation of two processed ginseng genera. As a result, all known biomarkers were identified by the proposed metabolomics, and additional potential biomarkers were extracted from the huge amounts of global analysis data. Therefore, it is expected that such metabolomics techniques would be widely applied to the ginseng research field.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.1133-1138
• /
• 2014

Ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI- MS/MS) provides a high-speed method to screen a large number of samples for small molecules with specific properties. In this study, UPLC-ESI-MS/MS with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was employed to screen urinary phospholipid (PL) content for biomarkers of prostate cancer. From lists of urinary PLs structurally identified using nanoflow LC-ESI-MS/MS, 52 PL species were selected for quantitative analysis in urine samples between 22 cancer-free urologic patients as controls and 45 prostate cancer patients. Statistical treatment of data by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis yielded 14 PL species that differed significantly in relative concentrations (area under curve (AUC) > 0.8) between the two groups. Among PLs present at higher levels in prostate cancer urine, phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and phosphatidylinositols (PIs) constituted the major head group PLs (3 PCs and 7 PIs). For technical reasons, PL species of low abundance may be underrepresented in data from UPLC-ESI-MS/MS performed in MRM mode. However, the proposed method enables the rapid screening of large numbers of plasma or urine samples in the search for biomarkers of human disease.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.15-22
• /
• 2018

The aim of this study was to develop a UPLC method for simultaneous analysis of 8 phenolic compounds including gallic aicd (1), protocatechuic acid (2), methyl gallate (3), ellagic acid (4), kaempferol-3-arabinofranosyl-7-rhamnoside (5), kaempferitrin (6), afzelin (7) and kaempferol-7-rhamnoside (8) isolated from Geranium thunbergii which has been traditionally used as anti-diarrheal agent. The UPLC method was optimized and validated using Halo C18 column ($4.6{\times}100mm$, $2.7{\mu}m$) consisting of MeOH and 0.1% formic acid at 260 nm in 25 minutes. In quantitative analysis of 8 compounds in MeOH extract of G. thunbergii, contents of 4-6 were 12.39, 20.52 and 21.45 mg/g, respectively. These compounds were measured as major phenolic compounds in G. thunbergii and can be useful as marker compounds for its quality control. These results suggest that the UPLC method can be contributed as basic data for quality evaluation of herbal preparations.

• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.158-165
• /
• 2012

A UPLC method for the simultaneous determination of seven compounds was established for the quality control in H. cordata. The UPLC was performed on a $C_{18}$ HSS T3 $2.1{\times}100$ mm, 1.8 ${\mu}m$ column during a 13 minute gradient elution of 0.2% aqueous acetic acid and acetonitrile with the flow rate of 0.2 mL/min at $30^{\circ}C$. The UPLC method was validated according to the ICH guideline of analytical procedures with respect to precision, accuracy, and linearity. The limit of determination and quantitation for the seven compounds were 0.01-0.09 and 0.03-0.28 ${\mu}g/mL$, respectively. The calibration curves of all seven compounds showed good linearity ($r^2$ > 0.999). The intra-day and inter-day the RSD values used to evaluate the precision of analysis were less than 0.9%. The recoveries of quantified compounds ranged from 98.63 to 103.85%. The developed UPLC method was found to be effective, convenient and sensitivity for quantitative analysis of seven compounds in H. cordata. This work could be provided a baseline source for quality control of H. cordata.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.99-105
• /
• 2013

To identify oxidative hair dyes in hair-coloring products, the thin-layer chromatography (TLC) screening method was used in accordance with Korean Quasi-drug Codex. However, the TLC method is not reliable when there are very small amount of materials to be tested or when $R_f$ values of several components are similar. In this study, Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) with a rapid sample preparation method was developed for the reliable and sensitive identification of active components contained in oxidative hair-coloring products. Hexane-distilled water was used for the extraction of active components contained in the products prior to UPLC analysis. The limit of detection of active components was 6.7-77.9 ${\mu}g/L$, and the limit of quantitation was 22.3-259.7 ${\mu}g/L$. Except for ${\alpha}$-naphthol, the range of recovery ratio was 96.2-101.5%. From this study, we demonstrated that oxidative active hair-coloring components can easily be analyzed by rapid extraction method followed by UPLC analysis.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.186-191
• /
• 2016

A new UPLC-DAD method for simultaneous determination of p-coumaric acid and trans-cinnamic acid in propolis was developed using Halo-C18 column and step gradient elution of MeCN and $0.1%H_3PO_4$ in 8 min. The method was validated by specificity, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, precision(intra- and inter-day variability) and recovery tests. The validated method was sufficiently applicable for quantitative analysis of propolis products as well as propolis collected from different regions in Korea. The established method is simple, appropriate and efficient, and can be used for quality assessment of Korean propolis.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.197-203
• /
• 2014

A rapid, accurate and precise method for the determination of 22 amino acids in Isatidis Radix by Hydrophilic Interaction Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Triple-Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry (HILIC-UPLC-MS/MS) was established. Chromatographic separation was carried out on a Acquity UPLC BEH Amide column ($2.1mm{\times}100mm$, $1.7{\mu}m$) with gradient elution of acetonitrile (containing 0.05% formic acid and 2 mM ammonium formate) and water (containing 0.15% formic acid and 10 mM ammonium formate) at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min; Waters Xevo$^{TM}$ TQ worked in multiple reaction monitoring mode. All components were separated in 17 min. All calibration curves were linear ($R^2$ > 0.991) over the tested ranges. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantitation (LOQ) for these compounds were 0.21-79.55 and 0.72-294.23 ng/mL, respectively. The average recoveries were in the range of 93.75-104.16% with RSD value less than 6.56%. Therefore, this method could be an alternative assay for the determination of 22 amino acids in Isatidis Radix due to its rapidness, sensitivity, less sample and solvent consumption.

• Translational and Clinical Pharmacology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.134-140
• /
• 2018

This study aimed to develop a UPLC-MS/MS method for determining plasma levels of L-aspartic acid and L-asparagine and the activity of L-asparaginase. L-aspartic acid, L-asparagine, and L-aspartic acid-2,3,3-$d_3$ were extracted from human plasma by protein precipitation with sulfosalicylic acid (30%, v/v). The plasma samples were analyzed using an Imtakt Intrada amino acid analysis column with 25 mM ammonium formate and 0.5% formic acid in acetonitrile as the mobile phase with step gradient method at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The injection volume was $5{\mu}L$, and the total run time was 15 min. Inter- and intra-batch accuracies (%) ranged from 96.62-106.0% for L-aspartic acid and 89.85-104.8%, for L-asparagine, and the coefficient of variation (CV%) did not exceed 7%. The validation results for L-aspartic acid and L-asparagine satisfied the specified criterion, however, the results for L-asparaginase activity assay showed a borderline validity. This study could be a foundation for further development of therapeutic drug monitoring systems using UPLC-MS/MS.