Simultaneous characterization and quantitation of 11 coumarins in Radix Angelicae Dahuricae by high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

A high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–ESI-MS/MS) method has been developed to characterize and quantify 11 coumarin compounds in Radix Angelicae Dahuricae simultaneously. By using this HPLC–ESI-MS/MS method, all 11 coumarins were separated and determined within 10 min. These coumarins were detected by ESI⁺ ionization method and quantified by multiple reaction monitor (MRM). The linear regressions were acquired with r² > 0.995, respectively. The precision was evaluated by intra- and inter-day tests, and relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) values were reported within the range of 1.14–4.42% and 0.37–4.00%. The recovery studies for the quantified compounds were observed over the range of 92.1–105.6% with R.S.D. values less than 4.55%. It demonstrated that the method developed was successfully applied for identification and quantification of 11 coumarins in Radix Angelicae Dahuricae. The results showed that the contents of coumarins in Radix Angelicae Dahuricae were processed differently and varied significantly.