Objective: To establish an Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Triple Quadrupole Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for determination of ten flavonoids in ginkgo leaves extract

and provide scientific basis for its quality control. Method: The analysis was performed on a ACQUITYTM UPLC BEH C18 (2.1 mm×50 mm

1.7 μm) with 0.1% formic acid solution-acetonitrile as the mobile phase for gradient elution (0-5 min

90%-70%A; 5-8 min

70%-50%A). The column temperature was 30℃ and the flow rate was set at 0.3 mL·min-1. Result: All 10 flavonoids showed good linear relationship (0.999 5-1) with the peak area within their tested ranges (0.01-85.00 mg·L-1). The average recoveries of ten flavonoids were 96.10%

96.77%

97.61%

97.83%

100.49%

99.28%

98.29%

101.23%

101.28% and 102.25% with RSD values below 5.0%. Total content of flavonoids in different batches of ginkgo leaves extract ranged from 89.29 mg·g-1 to 114.18 mg·g-1. The content of flavonoid glycosides accounted for a large proportion in the total flavonoids

while the contents of flavonoid aglycone such as luteolin and taroxinin were lower. The different flavonoids also had significant difference in content

for example

the contents of diglycoside rutin and quercetin-3-O-β-D-pyran glucose (4→1)-α-L-pyran rhamnoside were higher than the content of monoglycoside (isoquercitrin

quercetin). Conclusion: The method can be used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of flavonoids in ginkgo leaves extract.