[Analysis of chemical components and origin differences of Alismatis Rhizoma based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MS]

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) was used to comprehensively analyze the chemical components of 20 batches of Alismatis Rhizoma from four production areas and explore the differences in components among them. To accurately identify and characterize the chemical components of Alismatis Rhizoma, principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) were used to perform multivariate statistical analysis on the Alismatis Rhizoma from production areas: Nanping city in Fujian province, Leshan city in Sichuan province, Pengshan district in Sichuan province, and Qionglai city in Sichuan province. Additionally, analysis of variance was employed to screen the differential chemical components of Alismatis Rhizoma from different origins. A total of 104 chemical components were identified, including 87 triterpenoids, three sesquiterpenes, four organic acids, four amino acids, three flavonoids, and three other components. A total of 18 differential chemical components were characterized, including two unique components and 16 common differential components. Among them, 1S,4S,10S-calamusin Ⅰ was unique to Alismatis Rhizoma produced in Fujian province, and the content of 11,23-dioxo-alisol A and alisolid D was the highest in the Alismatis Rhizoma produced in Nanping city of Fujian province. 24-oxo-25-dehydro-alisol F was unique to Alismatis Rhizoma produced in Sichuan province. The content of 16-oxoalisol A, alisol F, alisol A, alisol G, and alisol M 23-acetate was the highest in the Alismatis Rhizoma produced in Leshan city of Sichuan province. The content of 4-(diglycodylamino) phenyl glycidyl ether, alisol B, alisol L 23-acetate, alisol C 23-acetate, alisol A 23-acetate, alisol O, and 16-oxo-23-acetyl-alisol C was the highest in the Alismatis Rhizoma produced in Pengshan city of Sichuan province, and that of alismanol M and 16-oxo-22-hydroxy-alisol A was the highest in the Alismatis Rhizoma produced in Qionglai city of Sichuan province. In conclusion, the origin of Alismatis Rhizoma has a significant effect on its chemical components. The use of characteristic components can effectively evaluate differences in origin, providing a scientific basis for the quality evaluation and selection of high-quality origins for Alismatis Rhizoma.