title: Development and validation of an UPLC-ESI-MS/MS method for determination of dehydroevodiamine, limonin, evodiamine, and rutaecarpine in Evodiae Fructus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evodiae Fructus (EF), one of the most widely used traditional Chinese medicines, mainly consists of alkaloids, is widely used for the treatments of headache and gastrointestinal disorders. In this study, a sensitive and reliable UPLC-ESI-MS/MS method was developed for qualitative determination of dehydroevodiamine, limonin, evodiamine, and rutaecarpine.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chromatographic separations were accomplished on a Phenomenex Kinetex XB-C18 column (2.1 × 150 mm, 1.7 μm) by using a gradient elution profile with a mobile phase consisting of 0.5% formic acid in water (A) and acetonitrile (B). Detection was performed using multiple reactions monitoring mode under ESI in the positive ion mode.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed good linearity over the investigated concentration ranges (R (2)>0.9900) for the analytes. The limit of quantitations (LOQs) were 6.88 ng/mL for dehydroevodiamine, 18.6 ng/mL for limonin, 6.24 ng/mL for evodiamine, and 2.56 ng/mL for rutaecarpine, respectively. Intraday and interday precisions (relative standard deviations, %) were <5% and accuracies ranged from 92% to 106%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The validated method was successfully applied to assay the contents of the four compounds in EF samples from different regions, with which just 10 min was needed to analyze each sample.
authors.affiliation: The Research Center for Quality Control of Nature Medicine, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China ; Key Laboratory for Information System of Mountainous Area and Protection of Ecological Environment of Guizhou Province, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: The Research Center for Quality Control of Nature Medicine, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China ; Key Laboratory for Information System of Mountainous Area and Protection of Ecological Environment of Guizhou Province, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Yunling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: The Research Center for Quality Control of Nature Medicine, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China ; Key Laboratory for Information System of Mountainous Area and Protection of Ecological Environment of Guizhou Province, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: The Research Center for Quality Control of Nature Medicine, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China ; Key Laboratory for Information System of Mountainous Area and Protection of Ecological Environment of Guizhou Province, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gong
keywords: Evodiae Fructus; Quantitative determination; UPLC-ESI-MS/MS