Rapid separation and identification of phenolic and diterpenoid constituents from Radix Salvia miltiorrhizae by high-performance liquid chromatography diode-array detection, electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and electrospray ionization quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometry.

High-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD), electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-TOF-MS) and electrospray ionization quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MSn) were used for the isolation, identification and structural analysis of water-soluble phenolic and nonpolar diterpenoid constituents in Dan-shen (Radix Salvia miltiorrhizae) which was prepared by sonication in 70% methanol. Mass spectra were obtained by ESI-TOF-MS and electrospray ionization quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometry (ESI-QIT-MS). A formula database of known constituents in Dan-shen was established and most constituents were rapidly identified by HPLC-DAD/ESI-TOF-MS by matching their accurate molecular masses with the formulae of the compounds in the database. Compounds with the same molecular formula could not be differentiated by TOF-MS; however, QIT-MS could differentiate those compounds and elucidate their structures based on their characteristic fragmentation. HPLC-DAD, HPLC/ESI-TOF-MS and HPLC/ESI-MSn provided complementary information for the identification of the constituents in Dan-shen. Forty constituents were identified in 30 min based on their positive and negative ion ESI mass spectra and liquid chromatographic information. Thus the method described is useful for the rapid analysis of multiple constituents in Dan-shen.