A high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry-UV-irradiation (HPLC-QTOF-MS-UV) method was established for rapid separation and structural identification of the constituents in Re Du Ning Injections (RDNI). A total of 20 potentially bioactive compounds including 10 caffeoylquinic acids and 10 iridoid glycosides were identified or tentatively characterized in RDNI by comparing their retention times and MS spectra with those of authentic standards or literature data. In particular, UV-irradiation was employed in the identification of the cis/trans isomers of caffeoylquinic acids. Furthermore, each compound was assigned to the individual raw materials (Artemisia annua L., Lonicera japonica Thunb. or Gardenia jasminoides Ellis) present in RDNI. This is the first time that an HPLC-QTOF-MS-UV analytical method has been used for the identification of caffeoylquinic acids in RDNI.
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