Study on Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf. Latex and its fatty acids based on UHPLC-MS/MS and DLLME-SFO coupled with GC-FID

Latex-bearing plants have gained global attention, but few studies have been reported on Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf.( C. pilosula ) latex. In this research, we established a UHPLC-MS/MS method to investigate the constituents in C. pilosula latex. Analysis revealed that the latex of C. pilosula contains alkaloids, terpenoids, and fatty acids, with fatty acids being one of the primary metabolites distinguishing the latex from above-ground (DS) and below-ground (DX) parts of C. pilosula. To evaluate the quality of C. pilosula latex, an approach of dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with solidification of the floating organic drop (DLLME-SFO) methodology was developed to quantitatively analyze the contents of three fatty acids (palmitic, linoleic, and stearic) in the latex of C. pilosula . The ideal extraction conditions involve injecting 20 μL of dodecanol extractant into a 5 mL 10% NaCl solution at pH 3.0, followed by 20 min at 700 rpm. The three components mentioned above have enrichment coefficients ranging from 48 to 50. The quantification limits were between 0.23 and 0.25 μg/mL, and three components demonstrated good linearity in their respective linear ranges (R 2  > 0.995). The satisfied precision and recovery rates were 1.26 to 8.05% and 92.38 to 101.53%, respectively. By quantitatively analyzing the three fatty acid contents in the latex of C. pilosula , the results showed that palmitic and linoleic acids were able to successfully distinguish the latex of C. pilosula from different parts, which laid the foundation for the quality evaluation of C. pilosula , and provided a reference for the utilization of C. pilosula , a medicinal food source.