Profiling of gallic and ellagic acid derivatives in different plant parts of Terminalia arjuna by HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS

Abstract

Terminalia arjuna is a medicinal plant used in ethnomedicine and the codified traditional medicine. A number of active constituents are reported, but there is no information on the whole range of gallic and ellagic acid derivatives present in this plant. A rapid and sensitive analytical method was developed using reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS) for qualitative analysis to determine the array of bioactive phytochemicals and their variations in different plant parts viz. bark, unripe fruit, ripe fruit, leaf, root and stem. Separation was performed on a Thermo Betasil C8 column (250 mm×4.5 mm, 5μm) with a mobile phase consisted of 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min in 55 min. A wide range of constituents of T. arjuna were characterized and broadly grouped as 27 gallic acid and 52 ellagic acid derivatives.