The earliest extant Chinese text on a theoretically systematic medicine is the Huang Di Nei Jing, which dates to the second or first century BC.

However, frequent references in that text to numerous earlier medical works make it clear that there was an evolution of intellectual understanding throughout the latter half of the first millennium BC. Already in the earliest pharmaceutical literature of the first centuries AD experience of practitioners from the simultaneous medication of different substances are recorded.

The herbs in a formulation can be divided in four groups (King (jun), Minister (chen), Assistant (zuo) und Envoy (shi):):

1. King herb: Strongest effect on the most important desease (its present is necessary).

2. Minister herb: Support of the king herb therapeutic enhancement (e. g. compounds of the minister herb inhibit the phase I or II metabolism of compounds of the King herb, which increase their elimination half-time, reduce their clearance and increase their plasma concentration).

3. Assistant herb: Support of the king and minister herbs therapeutic enhancement or is directed to a secondary imbalance decrease of toxic / rigorous character of  king and minister herbs (e.g. during the process of decoction, a compound of the assistant herb might bind to a toxic compound of the king herb, which prevents its absorption).

4. Envoy herb: Transport of the other herbs to the body part of imbalance.

Therefore, a normal formulation of a Chinese drug is very complex and a product control, similar to Western medicine is a big challenge.

The use of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has attracted a lot of attention not only in the East but also worldwide. Scientists are interested in the chemical constituents of Chinese herbs and the origins of their pharmacological and thus therapeutic activities.

We use comprehensive chromatographic techniques such as LCxLC-qTOF(MS) and GCxGC-quadrupol(MS) to analyse various herbs in CHM.

These are powerful tools to determine useful biomarkers of CHM. But after identification of biomarkers a more faster analytical method is necessary to analyze CHM samples in a quality control process. Therefore, we have developed a new direct-inlet-probe (DIP)-APCI ion source, which should be a useful tool for e. g. quality control of CHM.

We are interested:

• in the analysis of biomarker for each herb which is used in CHM
• in the development of a effective and fast product control of CHM
• in the analysis of active agents of CHM
• in the analysis of changes in the metabolome after treatment with CHM