Pharmacokinetic Study of Thirteen Ingredients after the Oral Administration of Flos Chrysanthemi Extract in Rats by UPLC‐MS/MS

A rapid and reliable UPLC‐MS/MS method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of thirteen bioactive compounds (luteolin, cynaroside, luteolin 7‐O‐glucuronide, isochlorogenic acid C, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, apigenin, apigenin 7‐glucoside, acacetin, hyperoside, isoquercitrin, tilianin, and hesperidin) in rat plasma. The compounds were separated on an ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 μm) with a gradient mobile phase system of acetonitrile and 0.1% (v/v) formic acid aqueous solution at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. All compounds were quantitated using Agilent Jet Stream electrospray ionization (AJS ESI) in a negative ion mode. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) for all compounds was below 5 ng/mL. The intra‐ and interday accuracy ranged from ‐13.0% to 14.0%, and precisions were less than 12.2%. The extraction recoveries of the compounds were in the range of 56.9% to 95.0%, and the matrix effect ranged between 71.6% and 109.3%. Stability studies proved that the thirteen compounds were stable under tested conditions, with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 11.4%. This developed method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of the 13 bioactive compounds after oral administration of Flos Chrysanthemi extract in rat by UPLC‐MS/MS. Pharmacokinetic parameters of 8 out of the 13 compounds investigated are presented in this paper.