Rapid Determination of Five Alkaloids in Poppy Shell in Herbal Tea by HPLC-MS/MS

Objective: A HPLC-MS/MS method was developed for rapid determination of five alkaloids in Poppy Shell in herbal tea, including morphine, codeine, thebaine, papaverine, and narcotine. Method: Agilent Poroshell 120 EC-C₁₈（2.1 mm×100 mm, 2.7 μm）was applied with the mobile phase consisting of 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate containing 0.1 % acetic acid-methanol by gradient elution. The electrospray ion source was operated in the positive ion mode using the multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) method, and the results were quantified by the external standard method. Result: The concentration range was 2.5～100 ng/mL in morphine and codeine, 0.5～20 ng/mL in the others. The correlation coefficients (R) were all above 0.995. The detection limit was 0.8 μg/g in morphine and codeine, 0.2 μg/g in the others. The average recoveries ranged from 84.5% to 105.1% in liquid samples, with relative stand deviations (RSDs) all below 6.3% (n=6), ranged from 72.5% to 112.3% in solid samples, with relative stand deviations (RSDs) all below 7.1% (n=6). 150 Batches of samples bought from markets were screened, and 6 batches showed positive for these analytes. Conclusion: This method was simple, accurate, could be used for the determination of five alkaloids in Poppy Shell added in herbal tea.