Rapid characterization of nonpolar or low-polarity solvent extracts from herbal medicines by solvent-assisted electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

As a convenient and efficient method, SAESI-MS can be used to directly detect compounds (especially the low-polarity compounds) in nonpolar or low-polarity solvent extracts of herbal medicines, providing abundant chemical information for pharmacological studies. SAESI-MS allows the simultaneous qualitative analysis of multiple compounds in the same complex samples and is thus particularly suitable for the preliminary screening of compounds in complex samples. SAESI-MS can be used to differentiate the different parts of herbal medicines.