Analysis of fresh Mentha haplocalyx volatile components by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

Fresh Mentha haplocalyx is a well known traditional Chinese medicinal material (CMM) used in both China and America. This paper reports analysis of the volatile components of fresh Mentha haplocalyx by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) and high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HR-TOF-MS), a combination that provides almost complete chemical separation with elemental composition determination of analytes. 163 ketones and terpenes, including menthol and menthone, were tentatively identified, including enantiomers. This study suggests that GCxGCxHR-TOF-MS is suitable for routine identification of target compounds and enantiomers in CMM.

Transcriptome Analysis of JA Signal Transduction, Transcription Factors, and Monoterpene Biosynthesis Pathway in Response to Methyl Jasmonate Elicitation in Mentha canadensis L.

“…Menthol is certainly the best-known monoterpene for its simple structure and wide applications. The earlier studies of M. canadensis mainly focused on the identification of active compounds and activity assays [12,13,14]. Since the absence of sequence data, the molecular mechanism of menthol biosynthesis in M. canadensis is still not clear.…”

Application of two-dimensional chromatography in the analysis of Chinese herbal medicines

“…However, in such systems, due to the high carrier gas flows in the second dimension, a split is necessary and focusing of the fractions is difficult to achieve, which may dramatically reduce the sensitivity. Consequently, the vast majority of GC × GC separations for the CHM analysis have been performed with thermal modulators [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Interfaces based on cryogenics, especially the longitudinally modulated cryogenic system (LMCS) and the looptype modulators, have been demonstrated to be the most widely used interfaces.…”

“…Volatile organic compounds have been considered the main contributors to these various pharmacological activities. Cao et al [19] profiled the fresh Mentha haplocalyx volatile factions obtained by a steam distillation method using GC × GC. By employing TOF-MS as the detector, a total of 163 volatile compounds were identified from the volatile components and were characterized to show high percentages of ketones and terpenes, including 24.56% menthol and 10.06% menthone.…”

“…Concerning MS detection, time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) has been demonstrated to be the best choice for the GC × GC system, as TOF-MS can simultaneously provide the high resolution, accurate mass measurement and fast scanning speed. GC × GC coupled with TOF-MS has been successfully applied for the analysis of various CHM samples, including volatile oils in Menthae haplocalyx [19], Artemisia annua [20], Pogostemon cablin Benth [22], Pericarpium citri reticulatae [21], Notopterygium incisum [30], Panax ginseng [29], Chrysanthemum morifolium [24], Flos Lonicerae Japonicae [23], Patchouli and Fructus forsythiaes [31], terpenoids in Artemisia annua [28], as well as essential oils in Coriandrum sativum and Eryngium foetidum [27]. Moreover, when using specific mass spectral libraries with a reduced mass scanning range, rapid-scanning quadrupole MS (qMS) can be regarded as a good alternative to TOF-MS.…”

Analysis of the influence of sulfur-fumigation on the volatile components of Angelicae sinensis Radix by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry

“…The combination of GC × GC-TOFMS has previously been shown to be very useful for many complex samples. [131415]…”