Determination of steroidal glycosides in Yucca gloriosa flowers by LC/MS/MS

An high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method, was developed for the quantitative analysis of the steroidal glycosides occurring in Yucca gloriosa flowers. The HPLC experiments were performed by means of an octadecyl-modified reversed-phase C-18 column and a binary mobile phase system under gradient elution conditions. The fragmentation patterns of steroidal saponins were analyzed by ESI-MS(n) in positive ion mode and a specific multiple reaction monitoring MS/MS detection was developed for their quantitative determination. The described method provides high sensitivity and specificity for quantitative determination of the steroidal glycosides in Y. gloriosa flowers. Quantification was performed against an external calibration line obtained using each pure steroidal glycoside. Short- and long-term repeatabilities of the methods were better than 3 and 6%, respectively. The method was validated according to EMEA guidelines and applied to real samples.