简介：AristolochiaeFructus,aChineseherbalmedicinederivedfromthefruitofAristolochiacontortaBge.,containsnephrotoxicaristolochicacidanalogues(AAAs).Accordingtoancientmedicaltexts,variousmedicinalpartsofthefruitofA.contortawereeverused.Inordertorevealwhichpartcouldbesafelyandeffectivelyused,itisnecessarytoanalyzethechemicalprofilesofdifferentmedicinalparts.HereinwecomparedthechemicalcompositionsanddeterminedaristolochicacidI(AA-I)andaristolochicacidII(AA-II)inthefourpartsviz.outerpericarp,innerpericarp,septum,andseed.Ultra-highperformanceliquidchromatographyequippedwithquadrupoletime-of-flightmassspectrometry(UHPLC-QTOF-MS)wasappliedforchemicalprofiling.Ultra-highperformanceliquidcoupledwithtriplequadrupolemassspectrometry(UHPLC-QqQ-MS)wasemployedtoquantifyAA-IandAA-IIindifferentparts.Itwasfoundthatthechemicalcompositionsofthefourpartsvariedbothqualitativelyandquantitatively.Atotalof10AAAs,including5aristolochicacidsand5aristolactams,togetherwith3alkaloids,wereunambiguouslyortentativelyidentifiedbyUHPLC-QTOF-MS.ThequantitativelyanalyticalresultsobtainedbyUHPLC-QqQ-MSshowedthatAA-IandAA-IIexclusivelyaccumulateintheseedsofA.contorta.Thesefindingsprovidesupportingdatafortherationalselectionofmedicinalparts.