Abstract

Dietary supplements containing preparations of ginger roots/rhizomes (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) are being used by consumers, and clinical trials using ginger dietary supplements have been carried out to evaluate their anti-inflammatory or antiemetic properties with inconsistent results. Chemical standardization of these products is needed for quality control and to facilitate the design of clinical trials and the evaluation of data from these studies. To address this issue, methods based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were developed for the detection, characterization, and quantitative analysis of gingerol-related compounds in botanical dietary supplements containing ginger roots/rhizomes. During negative ion electrospray with collision-induced dissociation, the cleavage of the C4-C5 bond with a neutral loss of 194 u and benzylic cleavage leading to the neutral loss of 136 u were found to be class-characteristic fragmentation patterns of the pharmacologically active gingerols or shogaols, respectively. On the basis of these results, an assay using LC-MS/MS with neutral loss scanning (loss of 194 or 136 u) was developed that is suitable for the fingerprinting of ginger dietary supplements based on the selective detection of gingerols, shogaols, paradols, and gingerdiones. In addition, a quantitative assay based on LC-MS/MS with selected reaction monitoring was developed for the quantitative analysis of 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 10-gingerol, 6-shogaol, 8-shogaol, and 10-shogaol in ginger dietary supplements. After method validation, the quantities of these compounds in three commercially available ginger dietary supplements were determined. This assay showed excellent sensitivity, accuracy, and precision and may be used to address the need for quality control and standardization of ginger dietary supplements.