title: Simultaneous quantitative determination of five alkaloids in Catharanthus roseus by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish a method to simultaneously determine the main five alkaloids of Catharanthus roseus for trace samples, a high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) analysis method was developed.
  
  
  METHODS
  The five Catharanthus alkaloids, vinblastine, vincristine, vinleurosine, vindoline, and catharanthine were chromatographically separated on a C18 HPLC column. The mobile phase was methanol-15 nmol·L(-1) ammonium acetate containing 0.02% formic acid (65 : 35, V/V). The quantification of these alkaloids was based on the Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) mode.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This method was validated, and the results achieved the aims of the study. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy of the five alkaloids were within 1.2%-11.5% (RSD%) and -10.9%-10.5% (RE%). The recovery rates of the five alkaloids of samples were from 79.9% to 91.5%. The five analytes were stable at room temperature for 2 h, at 4 °C for 12 h, and at -20 °C for two weeks. The developed method was applied successfully to determine the content of the five alkaloids in three plant parts of three batches of C. roseus with a minute amount collected from three regions of China.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method can be used for the simultaneous determination of five important alkaloids in trace C. roseus samples.
authors.affiliation: State Engineering Laboratory of Bio-Resource Eco-Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Engineering Research Center of Forestry Bio-preparation, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education; Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Engineering Laboratory of Bio-Resource Eco-Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Engineering Research Center of Forestry Bio-preparation, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education; Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China.
authors.forename: Qing-Hui
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Gai
authors.affiliation: State Engineering Laboratory of Bio-Resource Eco-Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Engineering Research Center of Forestry Bio-preparation, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education; Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China. Electronic address: zuyuanggang@163.com.
authors.forename: Yuan-Gang
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Zu
authors.affiliation: State Engineering Laboratory of Bio-Resource Eco-Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Engineering Research Center of Forestry Bio-preparation, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education; Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Engineering Laboratory of Bio-Resource Eco-Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Engineering Research Center of Forestry Bio-preparation, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education; Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Liang
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State Engineering Laboratory of Bio-Resource Eco-Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Engineering Research Center of Forestry Bio-preparation, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education; Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D030008:Catharanthus / Q000737:chemistry*; D002681:China; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal
keywords: Catharanthus roseus; HPLC-ESI-MS/MS; Monomeric and bisindole alkaloids