Simultaneous Quantification of Diarylheptanoids and Phenolic Compounds in Juglans mandshurica Maxim. by UPLC–TQ-MS

Jian Huang,Lu Yang,Jin-Hui Wang,Ke Zhang,Li-Bo Wang,Ya-Li Wang,Hong Yang,Ya-Ping Guo,Xiao-Xiang Chen

doi:10.3390/separations8090132

Abstract

The immature epicarps of Juglans mandshurica and Juglans regia have been used as folk medicine for the treatment of cancer in China. Other parts of the J.mandshurica plant, including leaves, branches, barks, and stems, have reported antitumor activities. We previously found that various diarylheptanoids and phenolic compounds isolated from J. mandshurica epicarps show significant antitumor activities. However, there are no reports of quantitative analysis of diarylheptanoids and phenolic compounds of J. mandshurica. In this study, a validated quantitative method, based on ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry, was employed to determine the contents of eight diarylheptanoids and seven phenolic compounds in the epicarps of J. mandshurica during different growth periods, in different parts of the plant, and in the epicarps of two Juglans species. The most successful J. mandshurica epicarp harvesting time fell between Day 12 and Day 27. The leaves of J. mandshurica showed potential for medical use as they had the highest content of the 15 compounds (3.399 ± 0.013 mg/g). We showed for the first time that the total content of diarylheptanoids in J. mandshurica is higher than that in J. regia, though, conversely, J. regia has higher contents of phenolic compounds. The method developed in this study is practical and simple and can be applied for quantitative analysis for evaluating the intrinsic quality of J. mandshurica.

Highlights

Introduction published maps and institutional affilJuglans mandshurica Maxim., a type of walnut tree, is primarily distributed throughout rural intermontane areas in northeast China [1]
We recently reported on the structures and cytotoxic activities of various diarylheptanoids and phenolic compounds that are constituents of green walnut
Gradually of diarylheptanoids and phenolic compounds is the most abundant in June, gradually dedecreases in July, and levels off in August; the most suitable harvest time for epicarps creases in July, and levels off in August; the most suitable harvest time for epicarps in Harbin ranges from Day 12 to Day 27

Summary

Introduction

Introduction published maps and institutional affilJuglans mandshurica Maxim. (family: Juglandaceae), a type of walnut tree, is primarily distributed throughout rural intermontane areas in northeast China [1]. (family: Juglandaceae), a type of walnut tree, is primarily distributed throughout rural intermontane areas in northeast China [1]. The immature epicarps, branches, barks, stems, and leaves of J. mandshurica contain several types of natural compounds, such as naphthoquinones [2,3], diarylheptanoids [4], phenolic compounds [5], triterpenes [6], and polysaccharides [7], which show antitumor [8], antioxidant [9], antiinflammatory [10], antimicrobial [11], immunoregulatory [12], neuroprotective [13] activities. We recently reported on the structures and cytotoxic activities of various diarylheptanoids and phenolic compounds that are constituents of green walnut

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Conclusion