Abstract:

In this study, the flavonoids in Ziziphus jujuba Mill. cv. Jinsixiaozao fruits were analyzed by using high
performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (DAD-HPLC) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry
(LC-MS). The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Hypersil BDS-C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) using a
mobile phase consisting of methanol and 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution at 0.8 mL/min flow rate by gradient elution. The
column temperature was set at 30 ℃, and the injection volume was 10 μL. Dual-wavelength detection was carried out at 270
and 370 nm. Then LC-MS was employed to determine the flavonoids. Results demonstrated that Jinsixiaozao jujube contained
four flavonoids, myricetin, rutin, quercetin, and isorhamnetin and their contents were 40.90, 8.40, 32.60 and 12.56 μg/g,
respectively. In the range of 5–125 μg/mL, the method exhibited a good linear relationship and repeatability. The limits of
detection (LODs) were in the range of 1.23–1.73 ng/L at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The relative standard deviation (RSD)
values for precision were 1.10%–4.31%. The recoveries from spiked samples were 93.50%–106.70% (RSD = 0.68%–2.90%).
Conclusively, this method had the advantages of simple pretreatment, high recovery rate and good precision, and it could
provide a convenient and precise method for the analysis of flavonoids in Ziziphus jujuba Mill. cv. Jinsixiaoza fruits.

Key words: high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), Ziziphus jujuba Mill. cv. Jinsixiaozao, flavonoids