Samples were analyzed using an Acquity I-Class UPLC-PDA system (Waters Co., Milford, MA, USA) coupled to a Q-Exactive Focus mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific, Bremen, Germany) equipped with a heated electrospray ionization source (HESI-II). The chromatographic separation was done on a Waters BEH C18 column (50× 2.1 mm i.d., 1.7 µm, Waters Co., Milford, MA, USA), using a linear gradient from 5 to 100% B over 7 min, at a 600 µL/min flow rate. The solvent system consisted of [A]: water with 0.1% formic acid and [B]: acetonitrile with 0.1% formic acid. The injection volume was 2 µL, and the column was kept at 40℃. The mass spectrometry parameters were as follows for PI mode (NI mode): spray voltage at +3.5 kV (-2.5 kV); heater temperature at 220 ºC; the capillary temperature at 350.00 ºC; Slens RF at 45 (arb. units); sheath gas flow rate at 55 (arb. units) and auxiliary gas flow rate at 15.00 (arb. units). The system was also coupled to a Charged Aerosol Detector (Thermo Scientific TM , Bremen, Germany) kept at 40 ºC. The PDA detector wavelength range was set from 210 nm to 400 nm with a resolution of 1.2 nm. The instruments were controlled using Thermo Scientific Xcalibur 3.1 software. The mass acquisition events were programmed as follows: one full scan with a resolution of 35,000 FWHM (at m/z 200) followed by three (top 3) centroid data-dependent MS 2 (dd-MS 2 ) at a resolution of 17,500 FWHM (100 to 1500 m/z range). Each dd-MS 2 scan acquisition event was done in discovery mode using the Apex trigger mode (2 to 7 s), a dynamic exclusion of 2.0 s with an isolation window of 1.5 Da, and a stepped normalized collision energy (NCE) of 15, 30, and 45 units. Additional parameters were set as follows: default mass charge: 1; Automatic gain control (AGC) target 2.0E 5 ; Maximum IT: 119 ms; Loop count: 3; Min AGC target: 2.6E 4 ; Intensity threshold: 1.