Purpose: To provide an online and non-contact method to monitor the dynamic temperature of the nux-vomica parching in sands, and also to develop a rapid screening and comparison of the compounds in crude and processed nux-vomica.

Methods: Seeds of nux-vomica were parched in sands by an herbal medicine roaster with an online-type and non-contact temperature measurement system (ONTMS). Processing was monitored by ONTMS and the processing temperature was accurately controlled within the range 200 - 220 ^oC. Ultra performance liquid chromatography - linear trap quadrupole -orbitrap-mass spectrometry method in positive ionization mode was established in this work. The samples were extracted by ultrasonication with 50 % methanol for 30 min. Chromatographic separation was achieved on an Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column using a gradient program with acetonitrile and 1 % formic acid as the mobile phase and a diode array detector set at 254 nm for quantification.

Results: The surface color of the processed seeds of nux-vomica were brown or dark brown and the cross-section bulged with small bubble which meets the requirements of Chinese traditional processing methods. Fourteen major compounds from crude and processed nux-vomica were identified simultaneously by HPLC-DAD. According to the MS fragmentation pathways and by comparing with reference literature, the structures of eleven of the compounds were confirmed.

Conclusion: Methods using ONTMS are more accurate for parching nux-vomica in sands and UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS is a rapid and straightforward method for compound profiling in crude and processed nux-vomica.