Determination of free amino acids in isatidis radix by HILIC-UPLC-MS/MS

Abstract

A rapid, accurate and precise method for the determination of 22 amino acids in Isatidis Radix by Hydrophilic Interaction Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Triple-Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry (HILIC-UPLC-MS/MS) was established. Chromatographic separation was carried out on a Acquity UPLC BEH Amide column (2.1 mm ¡Ñ 100 mm, 1.7 Ým) with gradient elution of acetonitrile (containing 0.05% formic acid and 2 mM ammonium formate) and water (containing 0.15% formic acid and 10 mM ammonium formate) at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min; Waters XevoTM TQ worked in multiple reaction monitoring mode. All components were separated in 17 min. All calibration curves were linear (R2 0.991) over the tested ranges. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantitation (LOQ) for these compounds were 0.21-79.55 and 0.72-294.23 ng/mL, respectively. The average recoveries were in the range of 93.75-104.16% with RSD value less than 6.56%. Therefore, this method could be an alternative assay for the determination of 22 amino acids in Isatidis Radix due to its rapidness, sensitivity, less sample and solvent consumption.