Rapid and direct determination of fatty acids and glycerides profiles in Schisandra chinensis oil by using UPLC-Q/TOF-MSE.

Fatty acids and glycerides are globally accepted quality and nutrition indicators of oils. Schisandra chinensis (S. chinensis) is a good functional oil source, with an oil content of 10-50% (dry weight). In this study, the UPLC-Q/TOF-MSE technique was developed to profile FFA and glycerides in the S. chinensis oils directly. The results showed that all of the 36 FFA calibration equations of the mixture standard had good linear relationships (R2 > 0.99). The limit of detection for the tested compounds ranged from 0.0001 to 0.0200 μg/mL, while the limit of quantification ranged from 0.0005 to 0.1300 μg/mL. In total, seventeen FFAs, six diglycerides and 20 triglycerides were identified. Linoleic, oleic, stearic and palmitic acids were the most abundant FFAs in the S. chinensis oils. It was also found that S. chinensis oil is rich in the L-L, L-L-L, O-L-L and O-L-O glycerides. These results will be helpful for the use of this technique in physicochemical evaluation and for further application development.