Abstract
This work aimed to compare the methods for the determination of twenty plant growth regulators (PGRs) from Chinese herbal medicines by applying liquid and solid extraction methods simultaneously. Quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe (QuEChERS) and matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) were chosen as the liquid and solid extraction methods, respectively. Due to the complex matrix of herbal medicine, carbon nanotubes were selected as the solutions/sorbents for the extraction and purification. The extracts were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Both methods resulted in good efficiency for the extraction and purification. The recoveries fell in the range of 71-117% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 19%. The limits of detection were in the range of 0.01 to 3 μg kg-1 with the two methods. The standards were prepared using the matrix matched standards due to the considerable matrix effects of the herbal medicines. Compared to the liquid method, the solid method required a smaller amount of sample, which is critical for PGR analysis of rare valuable herbal medicines. The two methods were applied for the determination of the twenty PGRs in different Chinese herbal medicine successfully.
Highlights
Herbal medicines have been widely used since ancient times in many countries.[1]
One of the main problems is that herbal plants often contain a large amount of proteins, pigments, sugars and tannins, which contribute to a complex matrix that must be considered in the analysis.[12,13,14]
The effect of different sorbents on the extraction efficiency was firstly investigated in this work. 100 mg of Primary secondary amine sorbent (PSA), graphitized carbon black (GCB), C18, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were tested in the study for their influence on the QuEChERS and matrix solidphase dispersion (MSPD) methods
Summary
Herbal medicines have been widely used since ancient times in many countries.[1]. In recent decades, more and more people have chosen herbal medicines for their mild healing effects and lower side effects.[2,3] The demand for herbal plants has rapidly increased with the increasing interest in herbal medicine use in both academic and industrial fields. PGRs are numerous and are both naturally occurring and have synthetic substances that regulate plant growth and death.[4,5] Most PGRs are considered to have low toxicity but they have been the subject of health concerns as previous studies have shown that some PGRs inactivate antioxidant defense systems or have teratogenic effects in vitro.[6,7,8] accurate analysis of PGRs in herbal medicines is a challenging task.[11] One of the main problems is that herbal plants often contain a large amount of proteins, pigments, sugars and tannins, which contribute to a complex matrix that must be considered in the analysis.[12,13,14] Another complication is the wide range of PGR chemical properties contributing to difficulties in the effective extraction of all the PGR components from herbal medicines.[15,16,17] sample preparation is a crucial step that must ensure extraction efficiency of analytical procedures, and effectively eliminate the matrix complexity
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