To analyze the phytogenic components of honey of Amorpha fruticosa L. (AFH) and establish
a targeted quantitative method, the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)
based metabolomic technology was used in this study. Firstly, high performance liquid
chromatography—quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-QTOF-MS) untargeted
metabolomics technology was used to screen candidate markers by comparing AFH metabolites
with plant chemicals of Amorpha fruticosa L. Afterward, high performance liquid chromatography—triple
quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-QQQ-MS/MS) was used to verify and identify
the candidate markers, confirming ononin as the characteristic phytogenic marker of
AFH, and determining its content range in AFH as 76.84–93.27 μg/kg (absent in acacia,
rape, jujube, and Galla chinensis honey). Then, network pharmacology and molecular
docking techniques were adopted to explore the gastric protective mechanism of ononin,
and the results showed that ononin strongly binds AKT1 (binding free energy −8.0677
kcal/mol). Using the established method, the LC-MS analytical method for ononin in
honey established in this study may be used for the authenticity identification of
the characteristic phytogenic markers of AFH.
