Rapid characterization of nonpolar or low-polarity solvent extracts from herbal medicines by solvent-assisted electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Rationale The direct detection of nonpolar and low‐polarity solvent extracts of herbal medicine is difficult by conventional electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS). This problem can be solved by solvent‐assisted electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (SAESI‐MS). With the help of assisted solvents (ESI‐friendly solvents) at the tip of the spray needle, compounds (especially the low‐polarity compounds) in nonpolar and low‐polarity...