Abstract
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•Pharmacological investigations of Asimina/Annona species revealed the presence of several bioactive compounds.•UHPLC-QToF-MS technique was applied for rapid screening of target and non-target compounds in complex matrices.•Thirty-five standard compounds were characterized and detected from methanolic extracts of Asimina and Annona species.•About ninety-six non-targeted compounds were identified based on accurate mass from mass spectrum.•The developed analytical method would be a valuable tool for herbal identification and quality control.
In current work, targeted and non-targeted analysis of alkaloids and acetogenins from methanolic extracts of Asimina, Annona species and dietary supplements have been performed using UHPLC-QToF in positive ion mode. Thirty-five standard compounds (twelve alkaloids and twenty-three acetogenins) were used for the analysis. The fragment ions produced by collision induced dissociation (CID) revealed the characteristic cleavage and provided structural information. Aporphine alkaloids and acetogenins are the major groups found in Asimina and Annona species. An untargeted analysis based on high-resolution mass spectrometry was carried out to profile the alkaloids and acetogenins from Asimina species (As. triloba, As. parviflora). Magnoflorine, being a major alkaloid from twigs of As. triloba samples, was used as an example to discuss the fragmentation patterns. In (+)-ESI-MS, magnoflorine gave [M]+ ions at m/z 342.1705. The fragment ions at m/z 297.1127 [M-(CH3)2NH]+, 282.0886 [M-(CH3)3NH]+, 265.0865 [M-(CH3)2NH-CH3OH]+, 237.0916 [M-(CH3)2NH-CH3OH-CO]+, and 222.0681 [M-(CH3)2NH-CH3OH-CO-CH3]+ resulted from the [M]+ molecular ion. One dietary supplement claiming to contain paw paw (As. triloba) was also analyzed and showed a similar profile to twigs of As. triloba. A total of 131 compounds including standard compounds were identified from the different parts of As. triloba and As. parviflora samples. These compounds can be used to distinguish Asimina species. However, for definite identification of these unknown components, further investigation is required. This may provide a model for the rapid screening and structural characterization of bioactive constituents from plant extracts in a single analysis.