Comprehensive multicomponent characterization and quality assessment of Shuang‐Huang‐Lian powder injection using ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography‐quadrupole time‐of‐flight‐mass spectrometry and ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography‐quadrupole‐Orbitrap‐mass spectrometry

Rationale

Shuang-Huang-Lian powder injection (SHLPI) is a well-known modern traditional Chinese medicine formula preparation (TCMFP) widely used to treat acute upper respiratory infections. However, SHLPI is extracted from pure Chinese medicine and administered through an injection, and many adverse reactions have been reported clinically. Therefore, it is necessary to characterize in depth the chemical composition of SHLPI and quantitatively analyze its potential allergenic components.

Methods

In this study, the samples were analyzed using ion mobility ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) combined with a self-built database. Furthermore, the parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) model of ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-Orbitrap-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS) was used to successfully quantify 10 representative bioactive components.

Results

Using this strategy 90 compounds were identified, the fragmentation pathways of five representative compounds in the five main components of SHLPI were summarized, and 10 components (neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, sweroside, forsythiaside A, luteoloside, isochlorogenic acid B, isochlorogenic acid C, baicalin, phillyrin, and baicalein) were determine as the quality markers of SHLPI based on UPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS.

Conclusions

This work comprehensively characterized the material basis of SHLPI, summarized the cracking laws of representative substances, and quantitatively analyzed 10 potential allergenic components. Therefore, this study could provide a basis for the quality control of SHLPI and the clinical rational use of drugs to reduce its adverse reactions.