Quality assessment and origin tracing of Guangdong Liangcha granules using direct mass spectrometry fingerprinting

A novel fingerprinting approach for quality assessment and origin tracing of Guangdong Liangcha granules (GLG) by electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS) has been established. A negative-ion ESI-TOF spectrum gave the best chemical information and was most suitable to construct the chemical profile fingerprinting of GLG. Using high-resolution TOF-MS, 61 common mass spectral peaks based on the major constituents present in GLG were accurately and simultaneously detected without any chromatographic separation, providing valuable information for overall assessment of the quality and differentiation of the origin of the preparation. Six sources of commercial GLG products produced by five different manufacturers have been successfully differentiated, according to the principal component analysis of 61 common mass spectral peaks, and the stability of them was also assessed. The results of our experimental data demonstrated that ESI-TOF-MS fingerprinting is a useful tool for rapid pharmaceutical analysis, with promising prospects for overall quality assessment and origin differentiation of commercial pharmaceutical products.