Analysis of the Constituents in “Zhu She Yong Xue Shuan Tong” by Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry Combined with Preparative High Performance Liquid Chromatography

“Zhu She Yong Xue Shuan Tong” lyophilized powder (ZSYXST), consists of a series of saponins extracted from Panax notoginseng, which has been widely used in China for the treatment of strokes. In this study, an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS) combined with preparative high performance liquid chromatography (PHPLC) method was developed to rapidly identify both major and minor saponins in ZSYXST. Some high content components were removed through PHPLC in order to increase the sensitivity of the trace saponins. Then, specific characteristic fragment ions in both positive and negative mode were utilized to determine the types of aglycone, saccharide, as well as the saccharide chain linkages. As a result, 94 saponins, including 20 pairs of isomers and ten new compounds, which could represent higher than 98% components in ZSYXST, were identified or tentatively identified in commercial ZSYXST samples.