Analysis on Chemical Constituents from Terminalia chebula Retz. and Terminalia bellerica (Gaertn.) Roxb. by UPLC-Q-Exactive Quadrupole-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry

A highly sensitive and selective method of ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (UPLCQExactive OrbitrapMS) was developed to rapidly identify the chemical constituents from Terminalia chebula Retz. and Terminalia bellerica (Gaertn.) Roxb. The separation of the compounds was carried out on an Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (21 m×100 mm×18 μm). The mobile phase of 01% acetic acid in methanol and 01% acetic acid in water was delivered at a flow rate of 03 mL/min under a gradient program. Mass spectrometer was operated in negative electrospray ionization mode and mass spectra were recorded by scanning the mass range of m/z 1001 500 in both MS and MS/MS modes. Based on retention time, exact mass, molecular formula, fragmentation patterns and references, 94 compounds were identified in T. chebula and 96 compounds were identified in T. bellerica, of which 12 compounds were detected and characterized for the first time in the Terminalia Linn genus. Among them, 66 compounds were the same, 28 specific compounds belonged to T. chebula, 30 specific compounds belonged to T. bellerica. According to references, the differential compounds possessed various biological activities, including antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, antimalarial, hepatoprotective and anticancer effects. The UPLCQExactive OrbitrapMS platform was a powerful tool for the determination of chemical constituents and provided useful information to further distinction of T. chebula and T. bellerica. The aim of this study was the comprehensive characterization of compounds in two Terminalia species to providing the reference for rapidly identifying, establishing possible structureactivity relationships and guiding rational drug use in clinical. Certainly, the main limitation of this work was the lack of further purification, identification and confirming the validity of the differential compounds, which should be carried out in further experimental validation.