A Novel Strategy for Screening of Secondary Metabolites in Ginkgo biloba Leaves by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Information Dependent Acquisition Mass Spectrometry

A novel and simple strategy was proposed for the screening of secondary metabolites in Ginkgo biloba leaves. The information dependent acquisition (IDA) mass spectrometry mode was introduced for ginkgolides and flavonoids detection innovatively. The strategy consists of a one-step extraction and a simple ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) tandem with an IDA mode mass spectrometry (UPLC-(IDA)MS) process. The specificity of the target compounds was achieved with the retention difference, combining high resolution of MS¹ as well as MS² results. The extraction efficiency of three extractants was compared. With only one extraction step, secondary metabolites in Ginkgo biloba leaves, including four ginkgolides, six flavonoids, and four biflavonoids, were identified. The co-elution of ginkgolide A and ginkgolide B as well as bilobalide and ginkgolide C was eliminated with the optimized UPLC program. A quantification algorithm was proposed for ginkgolides. The strategy was applied to monitor the evolution of secondary metabolites in the extract solution successfully. The developed strategy is a powerful tool to facilitate the screening of secondary metabolites in Ginkgo biloba leaves and its related products.