Comprehensive analysis of 61 characteristic constituents from Siraitiae fructus using ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A systematic method was established for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of characteristic components such as triterpenoids and flavonols in Siraitiae fructus, a famous antidiabetic traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). For qualitative analysis, 61 characteristic components were identified using the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with photo-diode array and quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-PDA-QTOF-MS/MS) based on a multiple product ions filtering (mPIF) strategy, of which 22 compounds were characterized for the first time from Siraitiae fructus. For quantitative detection, a relative quantitation assay using an extract ion chromatogram (EIC) of the full scan MS experiment was validated and employed to assess the quantity of the 61 identified compounds in 40 batches Siraitiae fructus samples from different sources. Additionally, the principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that 40 samples could be clustered into four groups and the cultivated variety was an important factor for sample classification. The methods used in present study might be also valuable for simultaneous investigation of multiple components from Siraitiae fructus for the purpose of holistic quality control, phytochemistry and metabolic studies.