title: Structural characterization of steroidal saponins from Smilax trinervula using ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometry.
abstract: Steroid saponins are a class of naturally existing substances widely distributed in the plants of Smilacaceae. Their biological activities have been attracting the interest of scientists in the chemical field for the past few years. To our best knowledge, there has been no study on structural characterization of steroidal saponins from Smilax trinervula (S. trinervula) using LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometry, which could provide an excellent approach for rapid screening of steroidal saponins in other plants of Smilacaceae. An ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC/HRMS) method was therefore developed to characterize steroidal saponins in S. trinervula. This method was operated in both negative and positive ion modes with HRMS, as a result, a total of twenty-two steroidal saponins with three aglycone skeletons were elucidated in the crude extract from the root of S. trinervula. The characteristic-fragment ions could well identify and differentiate the three types of aglycone skeletons (diosgenyl saponins, furostanol saponins, C27-hydroxy diosgenyl saponins).
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of TCM, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Education, Nanchang 330004, China.
authors.forename: Yonghong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
authors.forename: Shun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of TCM, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Education, Nanchang 330004, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of TCM, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Education, Nanchang 330004, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of TCM, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Education, Nanchang 330004, China.
authors.forename: Guangyu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of TCM, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Education, Nanchang 330004, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of TCM, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Education, Nanchang 330004, China. Electronic address: huilianh@163.com.
authors.forename: Huilian
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D012503:Saponins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D032281:Smilax / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D012503:Saponins
keywords: LTQ-Orbitrap mass; Smilax trinervula; Steroidal saponins; UHPLC/HRMS