Quantitative analysis of multiple components based on liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry in full scan mode

Although liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry in full scan mode can obtain all the signals simultaneously in a large range and low cost, it is rarely used in quantitative analysis due to several problems such as chromatographic drifts and peak overlap. In this paper, we propose a Tchebichef moment method for the simultaneous quantitative analysis of three active compounds in Qingrejiedu oral liquid based on three-dimensional spectra in full scan mode of liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. After the Tchebichef moments were calculated directly from the spectra, the quantitative linear models for three active compounds were established by stepwise regression. All the correlation coefficients were more than 0.9978. The limits of detection and limits of quantitation were less than 0.11 and 0.49 μg/mL, respectively. The intra- and interday precisions were less than 6.54 and 9.47%, while the recovery ranged from 102.56 to 112.15%. Owing to the advantages of multi-resolution and inherent invariance properties, Tchebichef moments could provide favorable results even in the situation of peaks shifting and overlapping, unknown interferences and noise signals, so it could be applied to the analysis of three-dimensional spectra in full scan mode of liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry.