Title: Analysis of Synthetic Drugs in Chinese Medicine by High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry with In‐Source Collision Induced Dissociation
Abstract: Abstract Sixteen chemical drugs, often found in adulterated Chinese medicine, were studied by high performance liquid chromatography/atmospheric ionization mass spectrometry. Under optimal conditions, three pairs of compounds were either coeluted or unresolved. The lack of chromatographic resolution and the lack of specificity in UV detection were overcome by a method based on high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray mass spectrometry. This method was capable of detecting the adulterants based on their retention times, molecular ions, and characteristic fragments resulting from in‐source collision induced dissociation.