Analysis of caffeic acid derivatives in echinacea extracts by liquid chromatography particle beam mass spectrometry (LC–PB/MS) employing electron impact and glow discharge ionization sources

A liquid chromatography–particle beam/mass spectrometry (LC–PB/MS) method with electron impact (EI) and glow discharge (GD) ionization sources is presented for the determination of caffeic acid derivatives in echinacea tinctures. In this work, two commercially available echinacea ethanolic extracts were used as the test samples for the separation, identification, and quantification of the caffeic acid derivatives (caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, cichoric acid, and caftaric acid), which are suggested to have beneficial medicinal properties. Detailed evaluations of the two primary controlling parameters for EI (electron energy and source block temperature) and GD (discharge current and pressure) sources were performed to determine optimal instrument operation conditions. The mass spectra obtained from both ion sources provide clear and simple molecular fragmentation patterns for each of the target analytes. The absolute detection limits for the caffeic acid derivatives were determined to be at subnanogram levels for both the EI and GD sources. The separation of the caffeic acid derivatives in echinacea was accomplished by reversed-phase chromatography using a C18 column and a gradient elution system of water containing 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid and methanol, with an analysis time of less than 40 min. A standard addition method was employed for the quantification of each of the caffeic acid derivatives in the tincture.