Analysis of chemical components in methanol extract of Moutan Cortex by UPLC/Q-TOF-MS

An ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UPLC/Q-TOF-MS)method was established to investigate the compounds of methanol extract from Moutan Cortex.UPLC separation was performed on a Waters BEH-C18column(10.0mm×2.1mm i.d.,1.7μm)using a mobile phase consisting of 0.1%formic acid water solution.The flow rate was set at 0.25 mL/min and the detection wavelength at 254nm.The mass spectrometer used was a Waters ACQUITY Q-TOF-MS equipped with an electrospray ionization(ESI)interface in positive and negative modes.The result indicated that the negative mode was suitable for the chemical components identification in Moutan Cortex.Thirteen compounds were identified from the methanol extracts of Moutan Cortex and paeoniflorin sulfonate was founded for the first time in Moutan Cortex by analyzing the total ion current(TIC)chromatograms and MS fragmentation patterns.Fragmentation pathway of monoterpenes components in Moutan Cortex also concluded.