Tandem Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Total Alkaloids from the Roots of Aconitum flavum

Electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MSⁿ) and high resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS) were utilized to analyze the total alkaloids from the roots of Aconitum flavum Hand.Mazz. Based on the information of pseudo molecular ions, molecular formulas and fragment ions which were obtained from ESI-MS, HR-ESI-MS and tandem mass spectrometry, five main alkaloids were suggested as 12 epi napelline, 3-deoxyaconitine, aconitine, 3-deoxyaconitine-8-linoleate and aconitine-8-linoleate, respectively.