An extractive nanoelectrospray ionization-mass spectrometry method for Chinese herbal medicine authentication

Chia-Hsin Lee ^a, Hui-Chi Huang ^a,b, Mei-Chun Tseng ^c, Chao-Jung Chen ^d,e,*

a Department of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chinese Medicine Resources, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan

b Master Program for Food and Drug Safety, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan

c Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan

d Proteomics Core Laboratory, Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40447, Taiwan

e Graduate Institute of Integrated Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan

Herein, we describe a rapid, sensitive, and nondestructive method—extractive nano-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (EnESI-MS)—for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) authentication. The mass-spectral fingerprints of volatile compounds released from various TCMs can be rapidly acquired using EnESI-MS without sample pretreatment. EnESI-MS was applied to successfully differentiate between two commonly used medic-inal herbs, Schisandra chinensis and S. sphenanthera, which are morphologically similar but exhibit different therapeutic effects. Specific volatile compounds of each herb in a ten-component Chinese herbal product, Jia Wei Xiao Yao San, were also identified, and the method was applied to discriminate between the commercial product and a substand-ard version.

Keywords: Authentication, Extractive nanospray ionization, Traditional Chinese medicine, Volatile compounds

https://doi.org/10.38212/2224-6614.3368

(https://www.jfda-online.com/journal/vol29/iss3/6)