Metabolomics-Based Identification of Characteristic Phytogenic Components of Honey of Medicinal Plant Amorpha fruticosa L.

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.