Analysis of supercritical fluid extracts of Radix caulophylli with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

To analyze the constituents in supercritical fluid CO₂ extraction (SFE-CO₂) of Radix caulophylli, the Radix caulophylli was extracted with SFE-CO₂, and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The GC-MS analysis with a DB-5MS capillary column (30 mm × 0. 32 mm ID, 0. 25 μm film thickness) was used. The inlet temperature was maintained at 280 °C. The column oven was held at 80 °C for 2 min, then programmed from 80 to 280 °C at 5 °C min^-1 and, finally, held for 4 min. Helium at a constant flow rate of 2.0 mL · min ^-1 was used as the carrier gas. The mass spectrometry conditions were as follows ; ionization energy, 70 eV ; ion source temperature, 200 °C. The mass selective detector was operated in the TIC mode ( m/z was from 40 - 500). For the first time 49 peaks were separated and identified, the compounds were quantitatively determined by normalization method, and the identified compounds represent 97.44% of total GC peak areas. Viz, n-hexadecanoic acid (31.4% ), (E, E )-9, 12-octadecadienoic acid (26.54%), ( Z )-7-tetradecenal (9.4%), hexadecenoic acid (3.23%), 10-undecenal (3.22%), octadecanoic acid (2.25%), and caulophylline (1.76%) etc. The results will provide important foundation for understanding the constituents arid further exploitation of Radix caulophylli.