Analysis of gingerol-related compounds in fresh ginger by HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS

To establish a rapid method for analysis of gingerol-related compounds in fresh ginger by using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electron spray ionization-quadrupole-time of flight mass/mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS). The gingerol-related compounds in fresh ginger was separated by an Inertsil ODS-SP column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 μm) using a binary eluent under gradient conditions. The analytes were detected by ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS in positive ion mode to obtain MS and MS/MS spectra and to extract molecular weights. From the MS data, the accurate molecular weights of gingerol-related compounds were obtained, and from the MS/MS data, the (+) ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS fragments were obtained. 25 gingerol-related compounds were identified from fresh ginger by attentive studying on the mass spectra of compounds and comparing with reference data reported in the literature, respectively. This method was certified to be accurate and reliable and can be used for the rapid analysis of gingerol-related compounds in fresh ginger.