Simultaneous quantification of 5 main components of Psoralea corylifolia L. in rats’ plasma by utilizing ultra high pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Psoralea corylifolia L. has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine for treating and preventing many diseases. A group of flavonoid components are regarded as the active principals within the seeds. In this research, a rapid, accurate and sensitive ultra high pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC/MS/MS) method has been established for simultaneous quantification of its 5 main components, namely, neobavaisoflavone, bavachin, isobavachalcone, bavachinin and corylifol A in rats’ plasma after the rats were orally administrated with Buguzhi extract. Negative ion electrospray mode was applied in the detection process. Multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode was utilized for simultaneous quantitative analyzing of neobavaisoflavone (m/z 321.1 → m/z 265.1), bavachin (m/z 323.1 → m/z 119.0), isobavachalcone (m/z 323.2 → m/z 119.0), bavachinin (m/z 337.2 → m/z 119.0), corylifol A (m/z 389.2 → m/z 277.0) and liquiritigenin (Internal Standard, m/z 255.1 → m/z 119.0). Chromatographic separation of the above mentioned components was conducted on a Waters BEH-C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) with gradient elution system at flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The mobile phase was composed of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid solution. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) for each of the above analytes was 0.5 ng/mL. Each of the analytes exhibited good linearity within the concentration range of 0.5–100 ng/mL. The method was fully validated for its selectivity, accuracy, precision, stability, matrix effect and extraction recovery. The validated method has been successfully applied for simultaneous determination of the 5 flavonoids in rat plasma for the first time.