11 III March 2023

https://doi.org/10.22214/ijraset.2023.49550
 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

HPLC-ESI-MS/MS for Concurrent Quantitation of

Bioactivity Compounds in Fermented Mulberry
Chun-Mei Lu1, Ting-Yuan Hsu2, Ho-Shin Huang3
1, 3
Bio-Ray Biotech, INC, NO, 21-3, Shennong E. Rd., Changzhi, Pingtung, Taiwan
2
Kao-Ho Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Abstract: In the present study, liquid chromatography tandem mass equipped method was developed for the separation and
quantification of bioactive flavonoids and phenolic acid from fermented mulberry. This novel method was also validated for
accuracy, precision and limit of quantification. A good recovery ranging from 80.1 to 92.1% and precision was achieved with seven
compounds with the relative standard deviation of intraday ranging from 1.5-3.2 %. Consequently, the validated method for
concurrent quantification of seven bioactive compounds in the fermented mulberry using LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis.
Keywords: LC-MS/MS, fermented mulberry, flavonoid

I. INTRODUCTION
The Morus alba is widely distributed throughout Taiwan, Korea, China and Japan as medical herbs long time. As reported previously
Morus alba mainly contains alkaloids, phenolic, flavonoids, tannin, and terpenes [1-2]. Flavonoids and phenolic acid are bioactive
compounds be found in M. alba leaves including caffeic acid, rutin and chlorogenic acid [3]. Flavonoids and phenolic acid as natural
compounds are found in many herb plant with bioavailability and safety for some indication. They were investigated for having
beneficial to health, such as anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidant, and antiviral activity [4-6].
Fermented fruits were proven to exhibit higher bioactivities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammation, etc. [7]. However few studies were
reported about the effects of fermentation on the bioactive ingredients and bioactive properties of mulberry. [8-10].In the anti-virus
plaque assay, we entrusted with the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute for testing. We found that fermented mulberry shown the
good antiviral activity and its EC50 was observed at 69.5μg/mL. The LC-MS/MS method is considered as a useful tool for qualitative
and quantitative analysis of bioactive compounds in medical herbs. [13-14]. In this study, we developing an efficient and validated
LC-MS/MS method for the quantification of the major flavonoids and phenolic acid in fermented mulberry.

II. MATERIAL AND METHOD

A. Reagents
Methanol and pure water (HPLC-grade) were purchased from Merck. Reference standards of Astragalin, Caffeic acid, Isochlorogenic
acid, Isoquercetin, Kuwanon G, Chlorogenic acid and Rutin were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St Louis, MO., USA).

B. Plant Material and Fermentation

The tissues of Morus alba including the leaves, twig were harvested (Miaoli, Taiwan). Lactic acid bacteria used in this experiment was
an isolated strain Lactobacillus plantarum PM-A0087 (BCRC910475). The Lactobacillus plantarum was grown in MRS broth (Oxoid,
England) and were harvested after 24 h. About 10% (mass to volume) of mulberry were prepared in distilled water. Next, about 5%
(mass to volume) of microbial culture and Morus alba was co-fermentation at 35 °C in an incubator for 24 hours. Fermentation was
carried out in the stainless steel barrel. After co-fermentation finished, the production were drying by freeze dry machine until become
powder.

C. HPLC-MS/MS analysis of the Fermented Mulberry

LC-MS/MS analysis was carried out on an XR-20A system (Shimadzu 8045, Kyoto, Japan) coupled to an triple quadrupole tandem
mass spectrometer (API4000, Foster City, CA, USA). Chromatographic separation was performed using a Zorbzx C18 column
(150×3.0 mm I.D, 5 μm; Agilent, USA). Mobile phase composition using gradient elution of solvent A (0.1% formic acid in pure
water) and solvent B (0.1% formic acid in methanol) were used in the following gradient elution method: solution A, 90–60% (0–3
min), 60–40% (3–5 min), 40–0% (5–10 min), 0–40% (10–12 min) and 40–90% (12–15 min).

©IJRASET: All Rights are Reserved | SJ Impact Factor 7.538 | ISRA Journal Impact Factor 7.894 | 895
 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

The column temperature was fixed at 40 °C, the flow rate was set 0.3 mL/min, and injection volume was 2 μL. The electrospray
negative mode was selected as an ion source for Astragalin, Caffeic acid, Isochlorogenic acid, Isoquercetin, Kuwanon G, Chlorogenic
acid, Rutin. The quantification was performed in multiple reactions monitoring. The optimized ESI source parameters were as
follows: ion spray voltage, -4500 V for negative mode; nitrogen nebulizer gas pressure, 51 psi; nitrogen curtain gas pressure, 12 psi;
heater temperature, 500 °C; collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) gas, 11 psi. The precursor-to-product ion transitions were m/z
447/284, m/z 179/134, m/z 515/353, m/z 463/300, m/z 691/581, m/z, 353/191 and 609/300 for Astragalin, Caffeic acid,
Isochlorogenic acid, Isoquercetin, Kuwanon G, Chlorogenic acid and Rutin. The optimization parameter as following: collision
energies (CE), declustering potentials (DP) and collision cell exit potential (CXP) were shown in Table I. The Analyst 1.7.3 software
(AB SCIEX, Concord, Canada) were used for result data processing.

D. Method Validaton of Phenlic Acid and Flavonoid Compounds

The linearity was estimated by the relationship between the concentration of the analytes and their signal obtained from LC-MS/MS
analysis. The linearity of the proposed method was evaluated using five concentration in the concentration range of 0.5-5 (μg/mL).
Linear regression equations were constructed by establishing calibration graph with the signal count (y), concentration (x, μg / mL).
The signal of each component in the fermented mulberry was calculated from its corresponding calibration curve and the resulting
data was represented as μg/g. The limit of quantification was evaluated according to the base line noise and determined at a
signal-to-noise ratio of 10. The intraday precisions were observed by constantly injecting the sample solution for three replicates on
the same day, and Relative standard deviation (RSD %) = (SD/mean) × 100%. The accuracy was evaluated as follows: Recovery (%)
= detected concentration − initial concentration)/spiked concentration) × 100. The percentage recovery rate was calculated using the
analytic signal and values provided by the calibration curves.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Analysis of Seven Bioactive Compounds by LC-ESI-MS/MS
In this study, a LC-ESI-MS/MS method was achieved for the qualitative and quantitative determination of the phenolic and flavonoid
compounds from fermented mulberry. The reversed-phase C18 column (Zorbzx, Agilent) was selected for HPLC -ESI-MS analysis
based on its good resolution and efficiency.
With the ESI source of the mass spectrometer, Astragalin, Caffeic acid, Isochlorogenic acid, Isoquercetin, Kuwanon G, Chlorogenic
acid, Rutin showed better sensitivity in the negative ion mode. The precursor-to-product ion transitions were m/z 447/284, m/z
179/134, m/z 515/353, m/z 463/300, m/z 691/581, m/z, 353/191 and 609/300 for Astragalin, Caffeic acid, Isochlorogenic acid,
Isoquercetin, Kuwanon G, Chlorogenic acid, Rutin. The optimized parameter of LC-MS/MS including declustering potential (DP),
collision energies (CE), and collision cell exit potentials (CXP) were shown in Table 1.
Seven compounds performed excellent linearity with coefficient of determination > 0.994 and results are shown in Table 2. The limits
of quantification (LOQ) of seven compounds were 0.05, 0.01, 0.07, 0.1, 0.05, 0.02 and 0.1 μg/ml for Astragalin, Caffeic acid,
Isochlorogenic acid, Isoquercetin, Kuwanon G, Chlorogenic acid, Rutin. A good recovery range from 80.1 to 92.1% and precision was
acceptable that RSD values ranged among 1.5% to 3.2 % for intraday variation. This validated method was successfully applied to the
quality control and concurrent analysis of fermented mulberry, which provided useful information for production and application. The
quantitative analytical results were shown in Table 3 and indicated their contents distributed in these samples. The contents of
Astragalin, Caffeic acid, Isochlorogenic acid, Isoquercetin, Kuwanon G, Chlorogenic acid, Rutin in fermented mullberry were in the
range of 23-1570 μg/g. The phenolic acid compounds and flavanoids are well known with their pharmacological benefits for human
health. In this results, isoquercetin with the highest abundance (1570 μg/g) among seven compounds were simultaneously observed.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
It is thought that the therapeutic efficacy of medicinal plant is determined by its bioactive compounds, but few studies have published
about bioactive ingredients analysis of fermented herb.
In this study, we have successfully developed a simple and accurate LC-ESI-MS/MS method to determine the seven bioactive
compounds in fermented mulberry.
According to validation results, the method can be useful for analytic seven bioactive compounds (Astragalin, Caffeic acid,
Isochlorogenic acid, Isoquercetin, Kuwanon G, Chlorogenic acid, Rutin) under the specified LC-MS/MS parameter. This method was
developed for the determination of phenolic acids and flavonoids in medicinal herb plant.

©IJRASET: All Rights are Reserved | SJ Impact Factor 7.538 | ISRA Journal Impact Factor 7.894 | 896
 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

REFERENCES
[1] Jia, Y.-N.; Peng, Y.-L.; Zhao, Y.-P.; Cheng, X.-F.; Zhou, Y.; Chai, C.-L.; Zeng, L.-S.; Pan, M.-H.; Xu, L. Comparison of the hepatoprotective effects of the three
main stilbenes from mulberry twigs. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2019, 67, 5521–5529.
[2] Guo, Y.-Q.; Tang, G.-H.; Lou, L.-L.; Li, W.; Zhang, B.; Liu, B.; Yin, S. Prenylated flavonoids as potent phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors from Morus alba:
Isolation, modification, and structure-activity relationship study. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2018, 144, 758–766.
[3] Thabti, I., Elfalleh, W., Tlili, N., Ziadi, M., Campo, M. G., & Ferchichi, A. Phenols, flavonoids, antioxidant and antibacterial activity of leaves and stem bark of
Morus species. International Journal of Food Properties, 2014, 17, 4, 842-854.
[4] Ayed, L., M’hir, S., & Hamdi, M. Microbiological, biochemical, and functional aspects of fermented vegetable and fruit beverages. Journal of Chemistry,
2020, 1–12.
[5] Choo, K. Y., Kho, C., Ong, Y. Y., Thoo, Y. Y., Lim, L. H., Tan, C. P., & Ho, C. W. Fermentation of red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) for betalains
concentration. International Food Research Journal, 2018; 25, 6, 2539–2546.
[6] Sánchez-Salcedo, E. M., Mena, P., García-Viguera, C., Martínez, J. J., & Hernández, F. Phytochemical evaluation of white( Morus alba L.) and black (Morus
nigra L.) mulberry fruits, an starting point for the assessment of their beneficial properties. Journal of Functional Foods, 2015; 12, 399–408.
[7] Li, F.; Zhang, B.; Chen, G.; Fu, X. The novel contributors of anti-diabetic potential in mulberry polyphenols revealed by UHPLC-HR-ESI-TOF-MS/MS. Food
Res. Int. 2017, 100, 873–884.
[8] Naowaratwattana, W.; De-Eknamkul, W.; De Mejia, E.G. Phenolic-containing organic extracts of mulberry (Morus alba L.) leaves inhibit HepG2 hepatoma cells
through G2/M phase arrest, induction of apoptosis, and inhibition of topoisomerase IIα activity. J. Med. Food 2010, 13, 1045–1056.
[9] Chang, L.-W.; Juang, L.-J.; Wang, B.-S.; Wang, M.-Y.; Tai, H.-M.; Hung, W.-J.; Chen, Y.-J.; Huang, M.-H. Antioxidant and antityrosinase activity of mulberry
(Morus alba L.) twigs and root bark. Food Chem. Toxicol. 2011, 49, 785–790.
[10] Choi, S.W.; Lee, Y.J.; Ha, S.B.; Jeon, Y.H.; Leem, D.H. Evaluation of biological activity and analysis of functional constituents from different parts of mulberry
(Morus alba L.) tree. J. Korean Soc. Food Sci. Nutr. 2015, 44, 823–831.

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 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

Table I. MRM tansitions, declustering potential (DP), collision energy (CE) and collision cell exit potential (CXP) of seven bioactive
compounds.
Compound MRM transition DP(V) CE(eV) CXP(V)
(m/z)
Astragalin 447 >284 -97 -35 -12
Caffeic acid 179 > 134 -29 -24 -7
Isochlorogenic acid 515 > 353 -23 -22 -12
Isoquercetin 463 >300 -54 -32 -10
Kuwanon G 691>581 -105 -33 -9
Chlorogenic acid 353 > 191 -72 -19 -12
Rutin 609> 300 -110 -48 -15

Table II. Linear regression equations, coefficients, linear range, precisions and recovery yields, limit of detection and limit of
quantification of seven bioactive compounds.
Compound Regression R2 LOQ Precision Recovery

equation (μg/mL (%) (%)

)
Astragalin y 0.997 0.05 1.5 91.3

=1330000x+4810

0
Caffeic acid y 0.996 0.01 1.7 82.3

=2920000X+1640

00
Isochlorogenic acid y= 2915.1x-3240 0.999 0.07 2.8 90.7

Isoquercetin y= 0.994 0.1 3.2 80.1

174000x+11800
Kuwanon G y = 124000 x + 0.999 0.05 2.7 86.9

191
Chlorogenic y= 0.995 0.02 1.9 92.1
acid
Rutin y= 0.996 0.1 2.5 90.5

Table Ш. The contents (μg/g) of the seven bioactive compounds in fermented mulberry (n=3).
sample Astragalin Caffeic Isochlorogenic Isoquercetin Kuwanon G Chlorogenic Rutin

acid acid acid

fermented 80 23 35 1570 95 411 183

mulberry

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 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.538
Volume 11 Issue III Mar 2023- Available at www.ijraset.com

-MS2 (447.00) CE (-35): 0.101 min from Sample 1 (AS) of AS.wiff (Turbo Spray) Max. 2.4e5 cps.
-MS2 (691.00) CE (-33): 0.111 min from Sample 1 (kuwanG) of KuwanG.wiff (Turbo Spray) Max. 8.6e5 cps.
283.9
2.4e5 581.3
8.5e5 691.4

(e)
2.3e5
2.2e5

(a)
2.1e5
2.0e5
8.0e5

7.5e5

1.9e5 7.0e5

1.8e5 6.5e5
1.7e5
6.0e5
1.6e5
1.5e5 5.5e5

1.4e5
5.0e5
I nt en sity, cps

1.3e5

Int en s ity , c ps
4.5e5
1.2e5
1.1e5 4.0e5
1.0e5
3.5e5
9.0e4
447.3 3.0e5
8.0e4
284.9 353.3
7.0e4 2.5e5
6.0e4
2.0e5
5.0e4
4.0e4 1.5e5 539.4
255.4
3.0e4 379.2 419.4
1.0e5
326.7
2.0e4 471.3
255.8 5.0e4 563.6
1.0e4 311.0 515.1
337.3 405.2 459.6 673.0
0.0 0.0
250 260 270 280 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400 410 420 430 440 450 460 470 480 490 300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440 460 480 500 520 540 560 580 600 620 640 660 680 700
m/z, Da m/z, Da

-MS2 (179.00) CE (-24): 0.847 min from Sample 1 (cafeic) of cafeic.wiff (Turbo Spray) Max. 4.3e6 cps.
-MS2 (353.00) CE (-19): 0.111 min from Sample 1 (cha) of cha.wiff (Turbo Spray) Max. 4.4e6 cps.
134.7
4.2e6 190.9
4.4e6
4.0e6 4.2e6

3.8e6

(b) 4.0e6

3.8e6
(f)
3.6e6

3.4e6 3.6e6

3.2e6 3.4e6

3.0e6 3.2e6

3.0e6
2.8e6
353.0
2.8e6
2.6e6
2.6e6
2.4e6
In t en sity, cp s

I nt en s it y, c p s

2.4e6
2.2e6
2.2e6
2.0e6
2.0e6
1.8e6
1.8e6
178.8
1.6e6
1.6e6
1.4e6
1.4e6
178.9
1.2e6
1.2e6
1.0e6 1.0e6
8.0e5 8.0e5
6.0e5 6.0e5

4.0e5 4.0e5

2.0e5 133.8 2.0e5 160.5 173.1

106.8
0.0 0.0
100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360
m/z, Da m/z, Da

-MS2 (515.00) CE (-22): 0.444 min from Sample 1 (ISOCHA) of ISOCHA.wiff (Turbo Spray) Max. 2.1e5 cps.

515.1
2.1e5
2.0e5

1.9e5

1.8e5

1.7e5
(c)
1.6e5

1.5e5 (g)
1.4e5

1.3e5

1.2e5
I nt e ns it y, cp s

1.1e5

1.0e5

9.0e4

8.0e4

7.0e4 353.2

6.0e4

5.0e4

4.0e4

3.0e4

2.0e4

1.0e4 339.3

0.0
300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400 410 420 430 440 450 460 470 480 490 500 510 520 530 540 550
m/z, Da

-MS2 (463.00) CE (-32): 0.424 min from Sample 1 (isoqurtin) of isoqutin.wiff (Turbo Spray) Max. 7.0e4 cps.

300.1
7.0e4

6.5e4

6.0e4

5.5e4
(d)
5.0e4
301.1
4.5e4

4.0e4
Intensity, cps

3.5e4
283.3

3.0e4
463.3

2.5e4

2.0e4

1.5e4

1.0e4

5000.0

0.0
200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440 460 480
m/z, Da

Fig. 2. The Structures and MS spectra of seven bioactive compounds in fermented mulberry. (a) Astragalin, (b) caffeic acid (c)
Isochlorogenic acid (d) Isoquercetin (e) Kuwanon G, (f) Chlorogenic acid, (g) Rutin

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