Abstract
To establish a UPLC-MS/MS method for simultaneous of 4 fat-soluble components in Danshen, such as tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, cryptotanshinone, dihydrotanshinone. Method: The separation and analysis was performed on a Hypersil Gold C18 (2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.9 µm). The mobile phase consisted of 0.1% acetic acid and methanol with gradient elution. The column temperature was set at 30°C with flow rate of 0.300 mL·min-1. Electrospray ionization (ESI) source was applied and operated in positive mode. Selective reaction monitoring (SRM) mode was used to quantify the 4 compounds. Results: The assay linearity of the 4 compounds was confirmed in the range of 0.20-1000 ng·mL-1.The average recoveries were 83.4%~112%, the detection limits were 0.10~0.50 ng·mL-1 and the relative standard deviation was less than 4.3%. Conclusion: This method is rapid, accurate, reproducible and sensitive, and has been successfully applied in the simultaneous quantification of 4 components in danshen. It can be used for study and quality control.