Characterization of phenolics of Sarcandra glabra by non-targeted high-performance liquid chromatography fingerprinting and following targeted electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry/time-of-flight mass spectrometry analyses

In this study, we successfully characterised the phenolic profiles of Sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) Nakai by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprinting analyses and mass spectrometry (MS) identification. We first established a specific and valid HPLC approach for fingerprint analysis of S. glabra based on HPLC–UV detection. Using several chemometric methods such as similarity evaluation and principal components analysis, we determined herb-markers peaks from many HPLC peaks. The structures of these herb-markers were further identified targetedly by electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS)/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) analyses. As results, four phenolics, including chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, 4-O-glucopyranosyl rosmarinic acid and rosmarinic acid, were characterised as major herb-markers for the stems of S. glabra, while another three phenolics, including kaempferol-3-O-β-d-glucuronic acid, chlorogenic acid and rosmarinic acid, were characteristic components for the leaves. The compounds may be very useful for further phenolome analysis.