Various species of globeflowers, belonging to the genus Trollius, have been extensively used in traditional Chinese medicine due to their anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antiviral properties, which are mainly attributed to their high polyphenol content. Differences in polyphenol composition, and abundances, will lead to varying treatment efficacies of globeflowers. Herein, we employ a combination of targeted and untargeted mass spectrometry (MS) approaches to characterize and quantify a comprehensive array of polyphenols, mainly including flavonoids and phenolic acids in two globeflower species commonly used in Chinese medicine, Trollius chinensis Bunge and Trollius ledebouri Reichb. In addition, free radical scavenging activity was investigated to evaluate the association between polyphenol composition and antioxidation capacity. Liquid chromatography (LC)-based separation and multiple-reaction-monitoring (MRM) transitions were optimized using a library of 78 polyphenol reference compounds to achieve absolute quantification on triple quadrupoles MS (QqQ). The analytical method was further expanded via high-resolution MS to provide relative quantitation of an additional 104 endogenous polyphenols in globeflowers not included in our reference library. Our results revealed stark differences in polyphenol content between T. chinensis and T. ledebouri, emphasizing the need for systematic characterization of polyphenol composition to ensure treatment efficacy and consistency in standardizing the use of globeflowers in Chinese medicine.

中文翻译：

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结合使用非靶向和靶向方法对两种金莲花属物种进行多酚分析

属于金莲花属的各种金莲花由于其抗炎，抗微生物和抗病毒特性而被广泛用于中药，这主要归因于其高的多酚含量。多酚成分和丰度的差异将导致菊科植物的治疗效果发生变化。本文中，我们采用靶向和非靶向质谱（MS）方法相结合的方法来表征和定量分析多种多样的多酚，其中主要包括中药金莲花和金莲花中的两种菊科植物中的类黄酮和酚酸。Reichb。此外，研究了自由基清除活性以评估多酚组成与抗氧化能力之间的关系。基于液相色谱（LC）的分离和多反应监测（MRM）过渡使用78种多酚参考化合物的文库进行了优化，以实现在三重四极杆MS（QqQ）上的绝对定量。通过高分辨率MS进一步扩展了分析方法，以提供对我们参考图书馆中未包括的金莲花中另外104种内源多酚的相对定量的信息。我们的研究结果揭示之间的多酚含量明显的差异红豆杉和T. ledebouri，强调需要对多酚成分进行系统表征，以确保治疗功效和一致性，以标准化中药中的菊科植物的使用。