European Journal of Mass Spectrometry - Abstract of Letter: Characterisation and identification of spermine and spermidine derivatives in Microdesmis keayana and Microdesmis puberula roots by electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry

Letter: Characterisation and identification of spermine and spermidine derivatives in Microdesmis keayana and Microdesmis puberula roots by electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry

Vincent Roumy,^a Thierry Hennebelle,^a Alexis Zamblé,^a Jacques Datté Yao,^b Sevser Sahpaz^a and François Bailleul^a
^aLaboratoire de Pharmacognosie, EA 1043, Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Université de Lille 2, BP 83, F-59006 Lille Cedex, France
^bLaboratoire de Pharmacologie et Nutrition, Université de Cocody, Abidjan, BP 582 Abidjan 22, Côte d'Ivoire

Three new N¹,N⁵,N¹⁴-tris(4-hydroxycinnamoyl)spermines were identified in hydromethanolic root extracts of Microdesmis keayana J. Léonard and Microdesmis puberula Hook f. The electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) technique with specific nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of hydrolysed products made it possible to identify N¹,N⁵,N¹⁴-tris(p-coumaroyl)spermine, N¹- feruloyl,N⁵,N¹⁴-di(p-coumaroyl)spermine and N¹,N⁵,N¹⁴- tris(feruloyl)spermine, named keayanines B, C and D, respectively. ESI-MS/MS analysis most effectively provided structural data although high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry was also used to characterise four other compounds from Microdesmis puberula—keayanidines A, B, C and keayanine A—which had already been identified in M. keayana. This chemical data is the first to be published for M. puberula which is a commonly used plant in Central African traditional medicine.