LC-MS-MS Technique and Its Application Analysis of Natural Products

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) tandem Mass-Mass (LC-MS-MS) spectroscopy provides a versatile method in chemical analysis. Combination of high power in separation of HPLC with high sensitivity with specific qualitative analysis of mass spectroscopy makes LC-MS-MS a very useful analytical tool applicable in various fields. In pharmacodynamic study, LC-MS-MS was used to determine the concentration of active ingredients in one or multiple compartments and to identify and analyze metabolites in vivo. In natural product studies, LC-MS-MS performs well in separation and identification of natural products and stereoisomers, establishment of botanical finger-print spectra, and screening of active substances. In this study, we wish to use LC-MS-MS to separate and identify the secondary metabolites of plants (Calocedrus macrolepis var. formosana, Chamaecyparis formosensis Matsum, Cunninghamia konishi）with mid-polar and polar properties. Plants are known unique trees to Taiwan and are valuable and major plants for high mountain forest of the Island. Several studies have reported in detail the mid-polar and non-polar secondary metabolites and their bioactivities. Therefore, all the pure chemicals will be subjected to a high-throughput screening system established in our laboratory for their activity identification. Meanwhile a standard LC-MS-MS database of these pure chemical will be constructed. This database will further provide structural elucidation and activity screening.