Determination of Ginkgolic acids in Ginkgo seeds using HPLC-MS in the presence of lipids

Abstract

A method for determination of five kinds of ginkgolic acids in ginkgo seeds, C15:1, C17:2, C15:0, C17:1 using HPLC-MS was established. Isopropanol was employed as the extraction solvent and a component of the mobile phase. The isopropanol extract can be injected into the HPLC-MS apparatus directly and the lipid removal process with silica gel column chromatography can be saved. The limits of determination and quantification of this method are 0.977 and 0.293 mg kg−1 respectively. The coefficient of variation and the recovery of the determination method are 3.3 and 102.29% respectively. It has good linearity within the range of 0.0008–0.1 mg mL−1. This paper provides a simple and convenient method for the determination of ginkgolic acids in ginkgo seeds with the presence of a large amount of lipids.