Identification and determination of glucuronides and their aglycones in Erigeron breviscapus by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A novel, speedy and reliable LC-MS-MS method for the search, identification and quantitation of O-glycosides and their aglycones from plant resources was established by analyzing the extract of Erigeron breviscapus. The extra ct was directly infused to a triple-quadrupole MS-MS and major glucuronides in the extract were screened out with high confidence by a neutral loss sc an for the loss of a gluconic acid. The identity of these glucuronides and their aglycones was further confirmed with LC-MS-MS. In addition to scutell arin, apigenin 7-O-glucuronide, quercetin-3-O-glucuronide and their aglycon es that were previously reported by others, we also confirmed by LC-MS-MS t hat remarkable amount of baicalin, an isomer of apigenin 7-O-glucuronide, p resented in the extract of this plant, which had not been reported before. A satisfying quantitation of three glucuronides was also made by LC-MS-MS. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.