Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatography-ion trap-time of flight mass spectrometry method was used for rapid screening, confirmation and quantification of 24 alkaloids, saponins and organic acid in beverage. After centrifugation of samples at high speed and filtration through a 0.22 μm drainage membrane filter, the filtrate was separated on a C18 column (2.1 mm × 250 mm, 3.0 μm) using a binary solvent system composed of acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% of formic acid through gradient elution. The analysis was carried out both in the positive and negative ion modes. The results showed that good linear relationships were obtained in the range of 50–750 μg/L for all 24 compounds with correlation coefficients of higher than 0.995. The limits of detection (LOD) obtained at signal-to-background noise of 3 for all analytes were in the range of 8–20 μg/L. Average recoveries were between 63.0% and 126.6% at three spiked levels (70, 250 and 700 μg/L) with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 4.11%–14.73%. Depending on the match of accurate mass number and retrieval in the self-built standard library, rapid screening was achieved and multistage characteristic fragments were also used for confirmation. The method, thanks to its rapidity, high efficiency, and good accuracy, could be used in the rapid screening and determination of multi-plant derived ingredients in beverage.

Key words: plant-derived ingredients, liquid chromatography-ion trap-time of flight mass spectrometry, alkaloid, saponin