[Progress in research of traditional Chinese medicine Citrus aurantium].

Citrus aurantium is one of the most common traditional Chinese medicines. In this paper, the chemical components, content determination and pharmacological actions of C. aurantium were summarized for the comprehensive utilization of its resources.

Simultaneous quantification of the major bile acids in artificial Calculus bovis by high-performance liquid chromatography with precolumn derivatization and its application in quality control.

An accurate and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method coupled with ultralviolet detection and precolumn derivatization was developed for the simultaneous quantification of the major bile acids in Artificial Calculus bovis, including cholic acid, hyodeoxycholic acid, chenodeoxycholic acid, and deoxycholic acid. The extraction, derivatization, chromatographic separation, and detection parameters were fully optimized. The samples were extracted with methanol by ultrasonic extraction.

[Morphology study on traditional Chinese medicine of animal skeleton of osteon myospalacem baileyi].

Sailonggu, a traditional Chinese medicine is whole skeleton of Myospalax baileyi, which is a kind of animal of rodent from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China. Osteon Myospalacem Baileyiis the first category medicinal materials of China Food and Drug Administration. For better quality control, a method of the morphological identification of Osteon Myospalacem Baileyi was established by means of studying characteristics of the animal skeleton, it's microscopic characteristics of powder, and literatures comparison.

Determination of the contents of five heavy metals in artificial musk.

Objective: To evaluate the safety of artificial musk by determining its content of five hazard heavy metals.

Method: The contents of Pb, Cd,As,Hg,and Cu in artificial musk were detected using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.

Result: The contents of Pb,Cd,As,Hg,and Cu was less than 0.

[Chemical constituents from safflower injection and their bioactivity].

The chemical constituents of Safflower injection were isolated and purified by polyamide, silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, ODS column chromatographies and preparative HPLC. As a result, sixteen compounds have been isolated. Based on the spectral data analysis, their structures were elucidated as scutellarin (1), kaempferol-3-O-β-rutinoside(2), hydroxysafflor yellow A(3), rutin (4), coumalic acid(5), adenosine(6), syringoside(7), (3E)-4-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)-3-buten-2-one(8), (8Z)-decaene-4, 6-diyne-1-Oβ-D-glucopyranoside(9), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (10), (2E, 8E) -tetradecadiene-4, 6-diyne-1, 12, 14-triol-1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (11), kaem-pferol-3-O-β-sophorose (12), uridine (13), roseoside (14), cinnamic acid (15), and kaempferol (16).

[Quality assessment of sulfur-fumigated paeoniae alba radix].

The samples of sulfur-fumigated Paeoniae Alba Radix acquired both by random spot check from domestic market and self-production by the research group in the laboratory were used to evaluate the effects of sulphur fumigation on the quality of Paeoniae Alba Radix by comparing sulfur-fumigated degree and character, the content of paeoniflorin and paeoniflorin sulfurous acid ester, and changes of the fingerprint. We used methods in Chinese Pharmacopeia to evaluate the character of sulfur-fumigated Paeoniae Alba Radix and determinate the content of aulfur-fumigated paeoniflorin. LC-MS method was used to analyze paeoniflorin-converted products.

[Census of pesticide residues and suggestions for control in traditional Chinese medicine].

In our study, 198 types of pesticides in 120 types 333 lots of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which were reasonably classified according to its matrix property, were determined by using the pretreatment platform and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method. As a result, 158 were contaminated with pesticides. However, the content of pesticides in most TCM was very low.

Chemical profiling and quantification of monacolins and citrinin in red yeast rice commercial raw materials and dietary supplements using liquid chromatography-accurate QToF mass spectrometry: Chemometrics application.

Red yeast rice (RYR) is prepared by fermenting rice with various strains of the yeast Monascus spp of the Aspergillaceae family. Depending on the Monascus strains and the fermentation conditions, the products may contain monacolins, pigments and citrinin as secondary metabolites. Authentic and commercial RYR samples were analyzed using UHPLC-DAD-QToF-MS for monacolins, pigments and citrinin.

Hepatoprotective triterpenoid saponins from Callicarpa nudiflora.

Four new triterpenoid saponins, 2α,3α,19α,24-tetrahydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic-acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (1), 2α,3α,19α,23-tetrahydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic-acid 28-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-glu-copyranosyl ester (2), 2α,3α,19α-trihydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic-acid 28-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (3), 2α,3α,23,29-tetrahydroxyurs-12,19-dien-28-oic-acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (4), together with three known compounds (5-7), were isolated from the leaves of Callicarpa nudiflora HOOK. Their structures were established by means of spectroscopic methods and chemical evidence. Hepatoprotective activities of the isolated compounds against D-galactosamine-induced toxicity have been tested.

New dimeric phthalides from Ligusticum sinense Oliv cv. Chaxiong.

A new dimeric phthalide, chaxiongnolide A (1), and a new natural product, chaxiongnolide B (2), together with a known compound Z-ligustilide (3), were isolated from the rhizome of Ligusticum sinense Oliv cv. Chaxiong. Their structures were elucidated by various spectroscopic methods and confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis.

Using the Doubly Charged Selected Ion Coupled with MS/MS Fragments Monitoring (DCSI-MS/MS) Mode for the Identification of Gelatin Species.

In electrospray ionization (ESI) mode, peptides and proteins can be multiply charged ions; in this situation a doubly charged selected ion (DCSI) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS/MS) fragments monitoring (DCSI-MS/MS) method is the most suitable scanning mode to detect known peptides in complex samples when an ion-trap mass spectrometer is the instrument used for the analysis. In this mode, the MS detector is programmed to only select a doubly charged ion as a precursor and to perform continuous MS/MS on one or more of the selected precursors, either during a specific time interval or along the whole chromatographic run. Gelatin is a mixture of high molecular weight polypeptides from the hydrolysis of collagen.

A pair of new antioxidant phenolic acid stereoisomers isolated from danshen injection (lyophilized powder).

A pair of new phenolic acid stereoisomers, (R)-norsalvianolic acid L (1) and (S)-norsalvianolic acid L (2), was isolated from the Danshen Injection (lyophilized powder). The structural elucidation and stereochemistry determination were achieved by spectroscopic and chemical methods including 1D, 2D NMR (1H-1H COSY, HSQC and HMBC) and circular dichroism experiments. Their antioxidant activities were assessed by the DPPH· and ABTS·+ scavenging methods in vitro with microplate assay.

Application of quantitative 1H NMR for the calibration of protoberberine alkaloid reference standards.

Quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (qNMR) has been developed into an important tool in the drug analysis, biomacromolecule detection, and metabolism study. Compared with mass balance method, qNMR method bears some advantages in the calibration of reference standard (RS): it determines the absolute amount of a sample; other chemical compound and its certified reference material (CRM) can be used as internal standard (IS) to obtain the purity of the sample. Protoberberine alkaloids have many biological activities and have been used as reference standards for the control of many herbal drugs.

Characterization of phloroglucinol derivatives and diterpenes in Hayata by utilizing ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Hayata () is a Chinese herbal medicine used for the treatment of tumor diseases. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) based chemical profiling approach was established for the rapid separation and characterization on phloroglucinol derivatives and diterpenes in . Three phloroglucinol derivatives and nine diterpenes were identified by exact mass measurement and were further confirmed by Ms data.

Determination of aflatoxins in medicinal herbs by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Introduction: We report a rapid and accurate method to determine the natural occurrence of aflatoxins (AFs) B1, B2, G1 and G2 in medicinal herbs and the analysis of 174 commercial samples by this method.

Objective: The aim of the present work is to examine the occurrence of the aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 in common medicinal herbs.

Methodology: The AFs were extracted, purified by immunoaffinity column and analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry with electrospray ionisation (HPLC-MS/MS).

Identification of five gelatins by ultra performance liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS) using principal component analysis.

An ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS) method coupled with a principal component analysis (PCA) was developed and applied toward identifying donkey-hide gelatin, bovine-hide gelatin, pig-hide gelatin, tortoise shell glue, and deerhorn glue. The UPLC-MS data of the trypsin digested samples were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) in order to classify these five gelatins. Additionally, marker peptides given by the loadings plot of PCA were identified based on a comparison of recorded LC-MS data with a previously reported database of the corresponding gelatin variants.

[Fingerprints of Curcuma wenyujin by RP-HPLC].

Objective: To establish a mutual mode fingerprint of Curcuma wenyujin for quality control of C. wenyujin.

Methods: Waters Symmetry C18 column was used; the mobile phase was methanol-water in a linear gradient elution with the flow rate of 1.

Determination of 195 pesticide residues in Chinese herbs by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using analyte protectants.

The phenomenon known as "matrix-induced enhancement effect" is not only observed in the analysis of pesticides in food, but also in Chinese herbs. Several approaches have been proposed to overcome the matrix-induced effect, but each method has serious limitations. Compared with standard calibration methods, the procedure with adding analyte protectants offers a more convenient and effective route to solve the problem.

[HPLC determination of six components in zedoary turmeric oil and its related injections].

Objective: To establish an HPLC method to simultaneously determine six ingredients in zedoary turmeric oil and its related injections.

Method: HPLC analysis was performed on Waters Symmetry C18 (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm).

Antiviral constituents against respiratory viruses from Mikania micrantha.

Phytochemical investigation of the dried aerial parts of Mikania micrantha led to the isolation of a new sesquiterpene, 3beta-acetoxy-1,10-epoxy-4-germacrene-12,8;15,6-diolide (1), along with six known constituents: 1,10-epoxy-4-germacrene-12,8;15,6-diolide (2), dihydromikanolide (3), potassium mikanin 3-sulfate (4), mikanin (5), alpinetin (6), and ergosta-7,22-dien-3beta-ol (7). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, and the molecular structures and stereochemistry of sesquiterpene lactones 1-3 were revealed by single-crystal X-ray analysis. Compound 2 showed moderate activity against respiratory syncytial virus (IC(50) = 37.

Anti-angiogenic effects of rhubarb and its anthraquinone derivatives.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Rhubarb root (Dahuang) is often included as an ingredient in traditional Chinese compound prescriptions for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. This application may possibly be mediated through anti-angiogensis and thus would shed light on its potential value in cancer therapy.

Aim Of The Study: To elucidate the anti-angiogenic properties of rhubarb root, we tested the inhibitory effects of different fractions and a series of anthraquinone derivatives against vessel formation in zebrafish embryos.

Selaginellin A and B, two novel natural pigments isolated from Selaginella tamariscina.

Two new unusual natural pigments were first isolated from the whole herbs of Selaginella tamariscina. The structure of selaginellin A (1) was established as (R,S)-4-[(4'-hydroxy-3-((4-hydroxyphenyl)ethynyl)biphenyl-2-yl)(4-hydroxyphenyl)methylene]-2,5-cyclohexadien-1-one and selaginellin B (2) as (R,S)-4-[(4'-methoxy-4-(methyl)-3-((4-methoxyphenyl)ethynyl)biphenyl-2-yl)(4-methoxyphenyl)methylene]-2,5-cyclohexadien-1-one, along with four known biflavonoids, amentoflavone (3), hinokiflavone (4), heveaflavone (5), and 7''-O-methylamentoflavone (6). Their chemical structures were elucidated by spectral analysis of electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy (ESI-MS), one-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1D-NMR) and two-dimensional-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (2D-NMR) including (1)H-NMR, (13)C-NMR, distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer (DEPT) and heteronuclear multiple bond coherence (HMBC), and single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques.

A new sesquiterpene isolated from Lindera aggregata (SIMS) KOSTERM.

A new sesquiterpene, neolindenenonelactone (1), was first isolated from the dried roots of Lindera aggregata (SIMS) KOSTERM., along with four known compounds, linderane (2), isolinderalactone (3), linderalactone (4), and 8-hydroxylindestenolide (5). Their chemical structures were elucidated using spectral analysis of fast atom bombardment mass spectroscopy, one-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and two-dimensional-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy including (1)H-NMR, (13)C-NMR, distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer, heteronuclear multiple-bond coherence, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques.

Antiinflammatory triterpenoid saponins from the seeds of Aesculus chinensis.

Phytochemical study of the ethanol extract of the seeds of Aesculus chinensis led to the isolation of a new triterpenoid saponin (6), together with five known triterpenoid saponins (1-5). The structure of the new compound was elucidated on the basis of spectral data to be 21,28-di-O-acetylprotoaescigenin-3-O-[beta-D-glucopyranosyl(1-2)][beta-D-glucopyranosyl(1-4)]-beta-D-glucopyranosiduronic acid (aesculiside A, 6). The antiinflammatory activities of the four main saponins (1-4) were compared with those of total saponin extracts, and single saponins showed more potent activity than total saponin extracts in mice.

Antiviral flavonoids from the seeds of Aesculus chinensis.

A bioassay-guided fractionation of an ethanol extract of the seeds of Aesculus chinensis led to the isolation of two new flavanoids (1 and 2), along with eight known ones (3-10). The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including 2D NMR. All compounds were tested for antiviral activity against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), parainfluenza virus type 3 (PIV 3), and influenza virus type A (Flu A).