Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis 2012;2(1):35–42

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Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Characterization of flavonoids in Millettia nitida var.

hirsutissima by HPLC/DAD/ESI-MSn
Min Yen, Wen-Zhi Yang, Ke-Di Liu, Xue Qiao, Bei-Jia Li, Jun Cheng, Jie Feng,
De-An Guo, Yu-Ying Zhaon

State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road,
Beijing 100191, China

Received 13 July 2011; accepted 6 September 2011

Available online 26 October 2011

KEYWORDS Abstract Millettia nitida var. hirsutissima is a Chinese herbal medicine used for the treatment of
HPLC/DAD/ESI-MSn;
gynecological diseases. An HPLC/DAD/ESI-MSn method was established for the rapid separation
Millettia nitida var. and characterization of bioactive flavonoids in M. nitida var. hirsutissima. A total of 32 flavonoids
hirsutissima; were detected, of which 14 compounds were unambiguously characterized by comparing their
Mass spectrometry; retention time, UV, and MS spectra with those of the reference standards, and the others were
Flavonoids tentatively identified based on their tandem mass spectrometry fragmentation data obtained in the
negative ionization mode on line. Nineteen of these compounds characterized were reported from
this plant for the first time.
& 2011 Xi’an Jiaotong University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.

1. Introduction and Fujian provinces of Southeast China [1]. In Chinese folk

medicine, it is used to treat dysmenorrhea, irregular menstrua-
Millettia nitida Benth. var. hirsutissima Z. Wei (Fengcheng tion, rheumatic pain, aching pain, as well as paralysis [2].
Jixueteng in Chinese) is a perennial herb distributed in Jiangxi Pharmacological studies have revealed that M. nitida var.
hirsutissima could recover liver function by promoting the
DNA replication of hepatocytes [3]. An extract of this herb
n
Corresponding authors. Tel.: þ86 10 8280 1516; fax: þ86 10 8280 2024. also exhibited obvious free radical scavenging activities [4].
E-mail address: yemin@[Link] (M. Ye). Flavonoid components were commonly regarded as the
bioactive constituents of M. nitida var. hirsutissima [5,6]. In
2095-1779 & 2011 Xi’an Jiaotong University. Production and hosting
our previous work, 21 flavonoids were isolated from M. nitida
by Elsevier B.V. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
var. hirsutissima and their structures were elucidated by MS,
1
Peer review under responsibility of Xi’an Jiaotong University. H –NMR and 13C –NMR [7–10]. Few reports are available
doi:10.1016/[Link].2011.09.009 on the global analysis of chemical constituents of this plant.
In this paper, a fast and reliable HPLC/DAD/ESI-MSn
method was established for the qualitative analysis of Millettia
Production and hosting by Elsevier nitida var. hirsutissima. A total of 32 flavonoids were char-
acterized, including 10 isoflavones, 3 chalcones, 5 flavanones,
36 M. Ye et al.

1 pterocarpan, 2 flavans and 11 flavonoid glycosides. Among hirsutissima, accurately weighed, was extracted for 30 min with
them, 19 compounds were reported from M. nitida var. 80 mL of methanol on an ultrasonic water bath (30 1C), and the
hirsutissima for the first time. extract was then filtered. The solution was evaporated to dryness
in a rotary evaporator under reduced pressure at 40 1C, and was
then suspended in 10 mL of water. The resulting solution was
2. Materials and methods extracted by 10 mL petroleum ether and 10 mL ethyl acetate
consecutively. The ethyl acetate extract was dried and dissolved
2.1. Chemicals and materials in 1.5 mL of acetonitrile. The solution was filtered through a
0.22 mm micropore membrane (Nylon 66; JinTeng, Tianjin of
The reference standards were isolated by the authors. Their China) prior to LC/MS analysis. A 10-mL aliquot was intro-
structures were fully characterized by NMR and MS spectro- duced into the LC/MS instrument for analysis.
scopy [7–10]. The dried stems of M. nitida var. hirsutissima were
collected in Fengcheng, Jiangxi province of China, in May 2003,
and were identified by Professor Hubiao Chen. A voucher 3. Results and discussion
specimen was deposited in the Department of Natural Medi-
cines, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University. 3.1. Optimization of HPLC conditions
HPLC grade acetonitrile, formic acid (J.T. Baker, Phillips-
burg, NJ, USA) were used, and ultra-pure water was prepared In order to obtain desirable HPLC chromatograms, the
using a Milli-Q water purification system (Millipore, MA, procedure of sample preparation was optimized in terms of
USA). Methanol, petroleum ether (60–90 1C) and ethyl acetate the extraction solvent, the solvent for extraction of flavonoids
(AR grade) for sample extraction were purchased from Beijing from the crude extract and the ratio of raw material to liquid.
Chemical Corporation (Beijing, China). First of all, three different extraction solvents, including 50%
(v/v in water), 70% and 100% aqueous methanol, were
selected as the extraction solvents. No significant difference
2.2. Apparatus and analytical conditions was observed between the obtained chromatograms, and pure
methanol was applied as the extraction solvent finally. Sec-
The HPLC analyses were performed on an Agilent series 1100 ondly, experiments showed that lipophilic components in the
HPLC instrument (Agilent, Waldbronn, Germany) equipped methanol extract could be removed by extracting with petro-
with a quaternary pump, a diode-array detector, an auto- leum ether, and ethyl acetate enabled the accumulation of
sampler and a column compartment. Samples were separated flavonoids with satisfactory HPLC baseline. Therefore, the
on an Agilent Zorbax Extend-C18 column (5 mm, crude methanol extract was suspended in water, and then
4.6 mm  250 mm). The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile successively extracted with petroleum ether and ethyl acetate,
(A) and water containing 0.03% (v/v) formic acid (B). A respectively. The ethyl acetate extract was used for LC/MS
gradient elution program was used as follows: 0–13 min, analysis. Thirdly, the sample concentration was adjusted to 8 g
10–18% A; 13–18 min, 18–20% A; 18–35 min, 20–25% A; crude drug per 1.5 mL so as to detect as many compounds as
35–42 min, 25–28% A; 42–60 min, 28–45% A; 60–65 min, possible, but not to result in ESI source contamination.
45–57% A; 65–70 min, 57–100% A; 70–75 min, 100% A. The Different columns (Zorbax SB-C18, Zorbax Extend-C18,
mobile phase flow rate was 1.0 mL/min. Spectral data were YMC ODS-A and Waters Atlantis dC18) were tested for the
recorded using diode-array detector over the wavelength range separation of the sample. By comparison, Zorbax Extend-C18
190–600 nm and the chromatogram was extracted at 280 nm. column gave the best chromatographic resolution among the
The column temperature was set at 40 1C. four columns. For the mobile phase, 0.03% (v/v) formic acid
For LC/MS analysis, a Finnigan LCQ Advantage ion trap was added to improve the mass spectrometry ionization
mass spectrometer (ThermoFisher, San Jose, CA, USA) was efficiency and enable symmetric peak shapes. The detection
connected to the Agilent 1100 HPLC instrument via an ESI wavelength was set at 280 nm, at which most flavonoid
interface. The LC effluent was introduced into the ESI source components can be detected sensitively. The HPLC chroma-
in a post-column splitting ratio of 5:1. Ultrahigh-purity helium togram and LC/MS total ion current of M. nitida var.
(He) was used as the collision gas and high purity nitrogen hirsutissima are given in Fig. 1.
(N2) as the nebulizing gas. The mass spectrometer was
monitored in the negative mode. The optimized detection 3.2. Optimization of mass spectrometry conditions
parameters were as follows: ion spray voltage, 4.5 kV; sheath
gas (N2), 50 arbitrary units; auxiliary gas (N2), 10 units;
Both the positive and negative ion modes were tested for MS
capillary temperature, 330 1C; capillary voltage, 60 V; tube
analysis. Most flavonoids showed much cleaner mass spectral
lens offset voltage, 15 V. A source fragmentation voltage of
background and higher sensitivity in the negative mode than
25 V was applied. For tandem mass spectrometry analysis, the
those obtained in the positive mode [11]. In the positive mode,
collision energy for CID (collision induced dissociation) was
flavonoids usually gave molecular adduct ions, such as
adjusted to 35% of maximum, and the isolation width of
[MþH]þ, [MþNa]þ, together with various fragment ions in
precursor ions was 2.0 Th.
the full scan mode when no collision energy was applied, while
in the negative mode most flavonoids yielded predominant
2.3. Sample preparation [MH] ions. Therefore, the negative detection was selected
for LC/MS analysis. The source fragmentation voltage was
The herbal materials were ground into a fine powder (through a set at 25 V, for it effectively reduced adducted ions
sieve of 100 meshes). An aliquot of 8 g of M. nitida var. ([MHþHCOOH] and [2MH]), and enhanced molecular
Characterization of flavonoids in Millettia nitida var. hirsutissima 37

could be observed in the mass spectra of most flavonoids, it

was rarely detected in isoflavones in our study. Instead, a
fragmentation at C-ring producing 0,3A and 0,3B ions was
detected in low abundance, which was consistent with pre-
vious report [12]. We also observed that the isoflavones gave a
series of regular neutral losses of 28 Da, 44 Da, 56 Da, 72 Da
and 84 Da in the MS spectra, which could be attributed
to CO, CO2, 2CO, COþCO2 and 3  CO, respectively
(Fig. 3). Similar fragment ions were observed from other
isoflavones and isoflavone glycosides as well. Additionally,
the MS spectra of flavones were much more complex than
those of isoflavones. For instance, flavones with different
hydroxylation patterns could yield ions like [MHC3O2],
[MHC2H2O] or [MHCH2O] [13,14]. The fragmenta-
tion pathways depended closely on the hydroxylation patterns.
Unfortunately, these fragment ions were barely observed in
isoflavones. For this reason, the exact locations of the
hydroxyl substituents of isoflavones could not be deduced.
However, the differences between the MS spectra of flavones
and isoflavones, as well as the characteristic UV spectra, could
Figure 1 HPLC and ESI-MS chromatograms of Millettia nitida serve as evidences to identify the structures of isoflavones. In
var. hirsutissima. (A) HPLC chromatogram at 280 nm; (B) ESI- this study, a total of 10 isoflavones were characterized.
MS chromatogram in the negative mode. Three compounds (20, 22 and 25) in the herbal extract gave
[MH] ion at m/z 283, and yielded similar MS/MS product
ions. Compound 22 was identified as calycosin by comparing
ions ([MH]) for majority of analytes. For LC/MS analysis, with a reference standard. MS/MS spectra of the three
a data-dependent program was utilized for tandem mass compounds gave m/z 268 ions ([MHCH3]) as the base
spectrometry data acquisition. In this program, [MH] ions peak, suggesting the presence of a methoxyl group [15]. The
detected in the full scan mode were selected for MS2 analysis. 0,3 
A ion at m/z 120 indicated the existence of a hydroxyl
The two most abundant fragment ions in the MS2 spectra were group on ring A. In addition, compound 20 showed similar
then selected as parent ions to trigger MS3 fragmentation. The UV spectra (lmax 230 nm, 288 nm) to 22, and was identified as
tandem mass data were analyzed to elucidate the chemical calycosin isomer. Compound 25 exhibited maximum absorp-
structures of unknown flavonoids. tion at lmax 260 nm, which was in agreement with certain type
of calycosin isomer (biochanin A, lmax 260 nm [9]), thus
3.3. Rationale for the characterization of flavonoids allowed its identification.
Compounds 17 and 28 both gave [MH] ions at m/z 267.
Their MS/MS spectra gave m/z 252 ions ([MHCH3]) as
Known compounds in the herbal extract were identified by
the base peak, suggesting the presence of a methoxyl group.
comparing with reference standards according to the retention
The 0,3B ions at m/z 132 indicated that the methoxyl group
time and MSn spectra. The unknown compounds were
should be located on B ring. Compound 17 was identified as
characterized by analyzing their fragmentation behaviors in
formononetin by comparing with a reference standard [10].
MS2 and MS3 spectra, their UV spectra, and by referring to
Compound 28 was subsequently identified as the isomer of
previous reports. A total of 32 flavonoids were characterized
formononetin.
(Table 1). Among them, fourteen compounds, 1, 5, 7, 9, 13, 16,
Compounds 10, 13 and 26 exhibited [M–H] ions at m/z
17, 19, 22, 23, 26, 29, 30 and 32, were identified by comparing
299. Their MS2 spectra showed a base peak at m/z 284
with reference standards, and the other compounds were
corresponding to neutral loss of methyl radical (CH3,
tentatively identified. In total, 19 compounds were reported
15 Da). Compounds 13 and 26 were identified as gliricidin
from M. nitida var. hirsutissima for the first time. The
and 30 -O-methylorobol, respectively, by comparing with refer-
compounds with relatively confirmed structures are shown in
ence standards. For compound 10, the 0,3A ion at m/z 148
Fig. 2.
and the 0,3B ion at m/z 136 indicated that ring A was
substituted with two hydroxyl groups, and that ring B was
3.4. Identification of isoflavones (compounds 10, 13, 17, 18, substituted with one hydroxyl group and one methoxyl group.
20, 22, 25, 26, 28 and 29) Thus, compound 10 should be an isomer of 30 -O-methylor-
obol, and was tentatively identified as 5, 7, 30 -trihydroxy-40 -
Note: The nomenclature for flavonoid mass spectrometry methoxyl isoflavone.
fragmentation proposed by Hughes et al. was adopted in this Compound 18 gave [MH] at m/z 269. The MS/MS
paper [12]. spectrum showed neutral losses of CO and CO2. Thus, com-
Most isoflavones showed UV absorption band at 250– pound 18 was tentatively identified as genistein [9]. Compound
270 nm, which helped to confirm them. Moreover, the tandem 29 gave [MH] ion at m/z 297. The MS/MS fragments at m/z
mass spectrometry of pure isoflavones, including calycosin, 282 and 267 due to successive losses of 15 Da from [MH]
gliricidin, 3-O-methylretusin and formononetin, were investi- indicated the presence of two methoxyl groups. Ions at m/z
gated. Although RDA (Retro-Diels Alder) fragmentation 267 then lost 28 Da, 44 Da and 56 Da. It was identified
 38
Table 1 Compounds identified from Millettia nitida var. hirsutissima.

No. Retention UVmax (nm) [MH] HPLC/ESI-MSn m/z (% base peak) Identification
time (min) (m/z)

1a 5.29 212 289 289-245(100), 205(30), 227(1), 203(1), 179(10), 161(1), 137(1) (þ)-Catechin
2 8.51 463 463-301(100), 343(1), 313(1), 255(1) Quercetin-O-hexoside
301-257(100), 259(70), 283(35), 273(25), 271(5), 151(5)
3 10.29 463 463-301(100), 343(1), 255(1), 191(1) Quercetin-O-hexoside
301-257(100), 259(70), 283(35), 273(25), 271(5), 151(15), 135(5)
4 12.54 230, 278 287 287-269(100), 259(15), 225(1)163(15), 109(1), 135(1) 3, 7, 30 , 400 -Tetrahydroxyflavanone
269-225(100), 241(20), 201(1), 163(20)
5a 12.57 431 431-311(100), 283(4), 341(4) Isovitexin
6 14.36 230, 268 445 445-283(100) Calycosin-O-hexoside
283-268(100), 255(1), 239(1), 211(1)
7ab 15.16 577 577-269(100), 503(3) Sphaerobioside [10]
269-269(100), 240(20)
8 15.45 226, 268 303 303-285(100), 193(1) Dihydroquercetin
285-241(100), 175(40), 217(20), 213(1), 243(15), 177(1)
9a 16.06 431 431-268(100), 311(10), 341(1), 371, (1), 223(1) Genistin
268-267(100), 240(60), 224(40), 226(20), 211(20)
10 16.79 299 299-284(100), 299(1) Isomer of 30 -O-methylorobol
284-284(100), 135(10), 256(20)241(10), 212(20), 228(20), 200(20),
148(20), 136(5)
11 17.28 579 579-271(100), 269(10), 313(5), 417(10), 519(1), 533(1) Trihydroxyflavanone-O-deoxyhexosyl-O-hexoside
271-151(100), 177(80)
12 17.87 461 461-446(100), 298(80), 371(1), 341(50), 283(20), 269(1), 164(1) Gliricidin-O-hexoside
446-283(100), 255(15), 211(1)
13a 18.93 299 299-284(100), 299(50), 271(15), 256(10), 212(1), 175(1) Gliricidin
284-256(100), 227(20), 212(5), 200(5)
14 20.72 230, 278 271 271-135(100), 153(60), 253(30), 243(1), 183(1), 91(1) 7, 30 , 40 -Trihydroxyflavanone
15 21.16 226, 262 447 447-285(100) Tetrahydroxyisoflavone-O-hexoside
285-285(100), 257(20), 240(5), 229(20), 212(10), 199(17), 176(15)
16ab 23.61 561 561-267(100), 545(1), 532(1), 252(1) Formononetin-7-O-b-D-apiofuranosyl-(1, 6)–O- D-
267-252(100) glucopyranoside [7]
17ab 26.18 262 267 267-252(100), 267(30) Formononetin [10]
252-251(100), 223(60), 208(40), 195(10), 168(1), 132(10)
18b 26.9 226, 278 269 269-269(100), 225(40), 241(30), 251(10), 213(1), 197(10), 133(20) Genistein [9]
19ab 27.93 255 255-255(1), 153(80), 135(100), 119(20), 91(5) Liquiritigenin [8]
20 29.24 230, 288 283 283-268(100), 283(10), 240(5) Isomer of calycosin
268-240(100), 267(1)224(20), 211(30), 196(10), 184(5), 120(5), 135(5)
21 30.23 285 285-135(100), 153(80), 149(75), 270(60), 285(20), 256(5), 91(50) 7-Methoxy-30 , 40 –dihydroxyl flavanone
22a 31.57 230, 290 283 283-268(100), 283(1), 224(1) Calycosin
268-240(100), 268(40), 224(30), 211(40), 195(15), 184(20), 135(1),

M. Ye et al.
120(5), 148(1)
23ab 34.14 577 577-283(100), 268(10) Lanceolarin [10]
283-268(100), 283(10)
268-267(100), 240(15), 223(10)
Characterization of flavonoids in Millettia nitida var. hirsutissima 39

as 8-O-methylretusin by comparing with a reference standard.

Our mass spectral data supported this structure very well.

3.5. Identification of flavanones (compounds 4, 8, 14, 19 and 21)

3, 20 , 40 , -Trihydroxy-4-methoxychalcone
A number of flavanones had been reported from Millettia

7, 20 -Dihydroxy-4-methoxyl isoflavan [8]

species [6]. Different from isoflavones, the CID of flavanones
usually gave 1,3A ions through RDA fragmentation as the
3, 4, 20 , 40 -Tetrahydroxychalcone

base peak [12]. In this study, five flavanones were detected

from M. nitida var. hirsutissima. Compound 19 was character-
ized as liquiritigenin by comparing with a reference standard.
Isomer of formononetin

The MS/MS spectrum gave a 1,3A ion at m/z 135 (100%) and
30 -O-Methylorobol [9]
Isomer of calycosin

a 1,3B ion at m/z 119 (20%). Compound 14 gave [MH] ion

8-O-Methylretusin
Isoliquiritigenin

at m/z 271. In its MS/MS spectrum, the base peak was m/z
Maackiain [8]

135, which could be assigned as both 1,3A and 1,3B ions.

This information indicated that ring A of compound 14 was
substituted with only one hydroxyl group, while ring B was
substituted with two hydroxyl groups. Therefore, compound
14 could be tentatively identified as 7, 30 ,40 -trihydroxyflava-
none. Compound 21 gave [MH] ion at m/z 285. The
fragment ion at m/z 270 ([MHCH3]) indicated the
285-135(100), 270(95), 153(60), 149(60) 243(20), 214(1), 201(1)
284-284(100), 267(10)256(80), 240(20), 227(30), 212(1), 148(5)

297-282(100), 267(10), 253(1) 282-267(100), 281(1), 239(20)

268-267(100), 240(60), 224(40), 212(5), 196(1), 164(1), 109(1)

presence of a methoxyl group. A specific fragment ion m/z

149, which was 14 Da larger than the fragment ion m/z 135,
was observed for compound 21. The mass difference of 14 Da
271-253(25), 228(1), 135(100), 153(80), 109(1), 91(1)

255-254(1), 213(1), 153(60), 135(100), 119(40), 91(5)

should be attributed –CH3 and H substitution, indicating

268-267(100), 240(60), 224(40), 226(20), 211(20)

271-109(100), 256(70), 253(80), 227(40), 135(60)

that the methoxyl group should be located on ring A. There-

252-252(100), 223(90), 208(40), 195(1), 132(10)

fore, the structure of compound 21 was characterized as

7-methoxy-30 , 40 -dihydroxy flavanone. It might be noteworthy
299-284(100), 299(20), 271(10), 256(1)

that [1,3AþH2O] ions were observed for the above flavanones

267-239(100), 223(20), 267(5), 211(1)

in great abundance (60–90% of base peak). How these adduct

ions were formed need further investigation (Fig. 4).
Compounds 4 ([MH] m/z 287) and 8 ([MH] m/z 303)
The compound was unambiguously identified by comparing with reference standards.

were also identified as flavanones. However, their MS/MS

153-135(100), 153(40)
283-268(100), 283(20)

283-268(100), 283(10)
267-252(100), 267(20)

fragmentation patterns were remarkably different from the

above three compounds. Particularly, [MHH2O] ions were
The compound had been reported from this plant. The reference was labeled.

observed in the MS/MS spectra as base peak. This fragmentation

could be due to the presence of a 3OH group. Similar
fragmentations were recently reported for flavanonols [16]. The
[MH] of compound 4 yielded the fragment ion at m/z 135,
which was attributed to 1,3A and indicated the presence of one
hydroxyl group on ring A. Moreover, the ion at m/z 163
corresponding to 1,2A suggested the presence of 3OH group.
Therefore, compounds 4 was tentatively identified as 3, 7, 30 , 40 -
tetrahydroxyflavanone. Compound 8 gave [MH] at m/z 303.
The fragment ion at m/z 285, through neutral loss of 18 Da from
271

283

299

255

297

271
285
283
267

the parent ion, indicated its flavanonol type. In MS3 spectrum of

m/z 285, m/z 243, neutral loss of 42 Da (C2H2O), suggested the
presence of 40 –OH, and m/z 217, lose of 68 Da (C3O2), indicated
b-hydroxylation on ring A. Therefore, compound 8 was tenta-
tively identified as dihydroquercetin.
230, 264

230, 282

226, 284
380

260

370

380
262
242

3.6. Identification of chalcones (compounds 24, 27 and 31)

Although the mass spectra of flavanones and chalcones were

similar, they could be explicitly differentiated according to their
UV spectra [17]. Flavanones showed maximum UV absorption
38.52

38.91

42.15

49.31

51.66

51.73
51.82
60.37
51.13

at 260–280 nm, whereas chalcones at around 380 nm. Com-

pounds 24, 27 and 31 had strong UV absorption at the bond of
26ab

30ab

32ab
29a

chalcones. All the three compounds had the same hydroxylation

24

25

27

31
28

b
a

pattern at ring A as their MS/MS spectra gave an A ion at m/z

135. The abnormal ion [1,3AþH2O] appeared as well. Other
40 M. Ye et al.

Figure 2 Selected chemical structures of identified compounds (compounds 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29,
30, 31 and 32).

fragmentation patterns were same to that of flavanones (Fig. 5). ions at m/z 135 and 109 could be attributed to [1,3BCH3]
Compounds 24 and 27 were tentatively characterized as 3, 4, 20 , and [BCH3], respectively.
40 -tetrahydroxyl chalcone and isoliquiritigenin, respectively. Compound 32 was the only pterocarpan detected in this
Compound 31 should contain a methoxyl group according to study. It was identified as maackiain by comparing with a
the [MHCH3] ions at m/z 270, and was identified as 3.20 ,40 - reference standard. Zhang et al. recently reported the ESI-MS/
trihydroxy-4-methoxyl chalcone. MS fragmentation of maackiain in the positive mode [16].
Here we studied its fragmentation pathway in the negative
mode. Maackiain might have been converted into an isofla-
3.7. Identification of other free flavonoids (compound 1, 30 vanone isomer and then underwent CID fragmentations.
and 32) A proposed pathway is given in Scheme 1.

Compound 1 was identified as (þ)-catechin by comparing with

a reference standard. The MS/MS spectrum matched the 3.8. Identification of flavonoid glycosides (compounds 2, 3, 5,
reported data very well [18]. 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16 and 23)
Compound 30 ([MH] m/z 271) was identified as 7,20 -
dihydroxy-40 -methoxyl isoflavan by comparing with a refer- A total of 11 flavonoid glycosides were identified from this
ence standard. The MS/MS spectrum gave a [MHCH3] plant. The tandem mass spectrometry of flavonoid glycosides
ion at m/z 253 due to the presence of a methoxyl group. The has been extensively studied [19,20]. ESI-MSn could provide
Characterization of flavonoids in Millettia nitida var. hirsutissima 41

abundant information on the saccharide sequence of glyco-

sides. For O-glycosides, the elimination of 162 Da, 146 Da and
132 Da indicated hexose, deoxyhexose and pentose residues,
respectively. For C-glycosides, however, the major fragmenta-
tion pathways involve cross-ring cleavages, such as 0,2X
(120 Da), 0,3X (90 Da) and 0,4X (60 Da) of the saccharidic
residue. These rules were used to identify unknown glycosides
in this study.
Compounds 5, 7, 9, 16 and 23 were identified by comparing
with reference standards. Four compounds (2, 3, 6 and 15)
gave a neutral loss of 162 Da in their MS/MS spectra,
indicating the presence of O-hexosyl group. Their structures
were tentatively characterized as listed in Table 1.
Compounds 2 and 3 were a pair of isomers. The MS/MS
spectra of their aglycones were similar. Ions at m/z 259, loss of
42 Da (C2H2O) from the base peak, suggested the presence of
40 –OH. The ion at m/z 151 attributed to 1,3A ion, indicated
two hydroxyl groups on ring A. The MS data were consistent
with that of qucercetin by comparing with a reference
Figure 3 The MS3 spectra of calycosin, gliricidin and formononetin.
standard. However they had different chromatographic per-
formance depending upon the different saccharide or the
glycosylation position. Therefore compounds 2 and 3 were
tentatively identified as quercetin-O-hexoside.
Compound 6 gave a [MH162] as m/z 283 in the MS/
MS spectra. The MS3 spectrum of m/z 283 was similar to that
of compound 22. Thus, it was tentatively identified as
calycosin-O-hexoside.
The UV maximum absorption of compound 15 was
262 nm, suggesting its isoflavone or flavanone type. Moreover,
a series of neutral loss discussed above indicated that it
belonged to isoflavones. Therefore, compound 15 was tenta-
tively identified as tetrahydroxy-isoflavone-O-hexoside.
Compound 12 gave a [MH] ion at m/z 461. Its MS/MS
spectrum exhibited a [MHCH3] as the base peak, indicat-
ing the presence of a methoxyl group. The neutral loss of
162 Da suggested the presence of a hexose. The MS3 spectrum
of [MCH3162] was very similar to the CID of gliricidin.
Therefore, compound 12 was plausibly identified as gliricidin-
O-hexoside.
Figure 4 The MS3 spectra of compound 14, 19 and 21. Compound 11 gave a [MH] ion at m/z 579. Its MS/MS
spectrum gave ions at m/z 417 ([MH162]) and m/z 271
([MH162146]), attributed to the elimination of a hexose
and deoxyhexose residues, respectively. In addition, the
deoxyhexose group should be the terminal sugar. In combina-
tion with other structural information, compound 13 was
identified as trihydroxyflavanone-O-deoxyhexosyl-O-hexoside.

4. Conclusion

In summary, a simple and robust HPLC/DAD/ESI-MSn

method for the qualitative analysis of chemical constituents
in M. nitida var. hirsutissima was established. A total of 32
flavonoids were identified, including 10 isoflavones, 3 chal-
cones, 5 flavanones, a pterocarpan, 2 flavans and 11 flavonoid
glycosides, and their fragmentation pathways in the negative
mode were studied. Nineteen of these compounds were
reported from M. nitida var. hirsutissima for the first time.
The method could be employed for fast screening of target
compounds, as well as for chemical identification or quality
control of Millettia species. The results enriched the chemical
Figure 5 The MS3 spectra of 24, 27 and 31. knowledge of Millettia plants, and provided valuable ground
42 M. Ye et al.

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