Abstract: An analytical method using quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe (QuEChERS) pretreatment combined with high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q-TOF-MS) was established for the quick screening of lignanoids in Schisandra chinensis. Sample pretreatment conditions were optimized. Chromatographic separation was accomplished on an Xbridge BEH C18 column with gradient elution. The mass spectrum was acquired by information dependent acquisition mass spectrometry (IDA-MS). The qualitative and quantitative analyses were based on the accurate masses of parent ions and isotopic patterns, and the accurate masses of fragment ions as well as a priori known retention times. The results showed that the limits of detection (LODs) for the three standards were within the range of 0.3–1.5 μg/L, and calibration curves offered satisfactory linearity (R2 ≥ 0.999 6) in a wide linear range. Lignanoids in S. chinensis samples could be quickly identified by searching in the high-resolution mass spectral library XIClists developed in this study.

Key words: Schisandra chinensis, HPLC-Q-TOF-MS, lignanoids, QuEChERS