Rapid Screening and Confirmation of 56 Illegally Added Drugs in Herbal Tea by Ultra-high Performance Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

A rapid screening method for 56 illegally added drugs in herbal tea was developed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS). The samples were extracted with methanol and separated on an Accucore RP-MS column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 2.6 μm) by gradient elution. A full mass scan/data dependent MS² (Full MS/dd MS²) mode was used to collect data for rapid screening and confirmation. The correlation coefficients (R²) of the calibration curves of the analytes were all greater than 0.99 in the concentration range of 2–100 μg/L. The average recoveries ranged from 90.4% to 105.0% at three different spiked levels with relative standard deviations (RSDs) not more than 6.0%, the limits of detection were between 0.5 and 2.5 μg/L, and the limits of quantification were between 1.5 μg/L to 8.0 μg/L. This method was rapid, accurate and sensitive, and it was suitable for simultaneous screening and quantitation. It can be used for rapid screening and confirmation of illegal additives in herbal tea.