Abstract

Taraxacum coreanum, known as the native Korean white dandelion, has been historically used in traditional medicine due to its various therapeutic properties. However, the specific benefits and mechanisms of white dandelion in alleviating particular symptoms or diseases remain uncertain due to the complexity of its phytochemical profile. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the phytochemical profiles of methanolic extracts of different parts of the white dandelion (flower, leaf, stem, and root) using hybrid ion-mobility Q-TOF MS. Using the trapped ion mobility-based PASEF technique, 3715 and 2114 molec- ular features with MS2 fragments were obtained in positive and negative ion modes, respectively, and then a total of 360 and 156 phytochemical compounds were annotated by matching with a reference spectral library in positive and negative ion modes, respec- tively. Subsequent feature-based molecular networking analysis revealed the phytochemical differences across the four different parts of the white dandelion. Our findings indicated that the methanolic extracts contained various bioactive compounds, including lipids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and sesquiterpenes. In particular, lipids such as linoleic acids, lysophosphatidylcholines, and sesquiter- penoids were predominantly present in the leaf, while flavonoid glycosides and lysophosphoethanolamines were notably enriched in the flower. An assessment of the total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of the methanolic extracts revealed that the majority of phytochemicals were concentrated in the flower. Interestingly, despite the root extract displaying the lowest TPC and TFC values, it exhibited the highest radical scavenging rate when normalized to TPC and TFC, suggesting a potent antioxidant effect. These findings and further investigations into the biological activities and medicinal potential of the identified compounds, particularly those exclusive to specific plant parts, may contribute to the development of novel therapeutic agents derived from white dandelion.