Simultaneous determination of 41 components in Gualou Guizhi granules by UPLC coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Gualou Guizhi granules (GLGZGs) are a classical formula of traditional Chinese medicine, which have been commonly used to treat dysfunction after stroke, epilepsy and spinal cord injury. In this study, an efficient method using ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (QqQ MS) was developed for the rapid determination of forty-one major components in GLGZGs. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC Cortest C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.6 μm) with a gradient mobile phase (A: 0.1% aqueous formic acid and B: acetonitrile with 0.1% formic acid) at a flow rate of 0.25 mL min⁻¹. Multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) was used for quantitative analysis. Ten batches of GLGZGs were analyzed with a good linear regression relationship (R², 0.9841–0.9998). The present study offered highly sensitive, specific and speedy determination of forty-one components, which promoted the quality control investigation of GLGZGs via employing the developed method.