Comprehensive Quality Evaluation of Viticis Fructus Based on Simultaneous Quantification of Nine Flavones and One Iridoid Glycoside by Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Chemometric Analysis

Viticis fructus is the dry fruit of Vitex trifolia L. var. simplicifolia Cham. or Vitex trifolia L., both belonging to the family Verbenaceae. Viticis fructus can grow well in saline alkali lands, and is currently an important industrial raw material for extracting flavones and iridoid glycosides for medicinal use. However, the significance of differences in the chemical components of Viticis fructus from different production areas is not yet clear. Therefore, a sensitive, selective, and accurate UHPLC–ESI–MS/MS method with high selectivity and efficiency was established and validated for simultaneous quantification of nine flavones and one iridoid glycoside in Viticis fructus. A comprehensive quality evaluation of 36 batches of Viticis fructus samples collected from 10 main production areas in China was performed using this method and chemometric analysis. The contents of vitexicarpin in 36 batches of samples were all higher than 0.030% (300 µg/g), which met the requirements of Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2020 edition). However, the contents of the 10 active ingredients from different production areas were quite different. The contents of nine flavones and one iridoid glycoside in Viticis fructus were greatly affected by the growth environment. Humid climatic conditions were relatively favorable for the accumulation of active components in Viticis fructus. The flavone and iridoid glycoside contents were higher in the samples from Shandong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, and Guizhou. Chemometric analysis also showed that vitexicarpin, chrysosplenol D, and agnuside could well represent the total flavones and iridoid glycoside of Viticis fructus for the classification and evaluation of the overall quality of Viticis fructus from different regions. These three representative components can be used as markers to evaluate the quality of Viticis fructus, providing a reliable theoretical and experimental basis for improving the quality standards of Viticis fructus.