Adulteration Detection of Lovastatin in Red Yeast Rice by LC-TOF/MS

OBJECTIVE To establish an analysis method to detect the adulteration of lovastatin in red yeast rice by LC-TOF/MS.METHODS Methanol extract of red yeast rice was subject to LC-MS analysis by applying Zorbax SB-C₁₈ (4.6 mm×150 mm, 5 μm) column, eluted using water supplied with 0.05% formic acid-acetonitrile with gradient elucidation (0~40 min, 40%~100% acetonitrile), and scanned in positive ion mode.RESULTS Comparison analysis led to the finding of typical ions could specifically distinguish adulterated lovastatin in red yeast rice.CONCLUSION The established LC-MS analysis method can be applied for adulteration detection of lovastatin in red yeast rice.