Comparison of two species of Notopterygium by GC-MS and HPLC

Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix (Qianghuo), including Notopterygium incisum Ting ex H. T. Chang (NI) and Notopterygium franchetii H. de Boiss (NF), is an important traditional Chinese medicine. Of these two plants, NI, is more commonly used and has a much higher price in the marketplace. To compare these two plants, a combination of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was carried out, thus obtaining an overall characterization for both volatile and none-volatile compounds. Combined with hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis, GC-MS was successfully applied to distinguish NF and NI. The chemical constitutes of volatile oil in NI and NF were firstly compared in detail, and 1R-alpha-pinene, beta-pinene and 4-isopropyl-1-methyl-1,4-cyclohexadiene had great contribution to the discrimination. Fingerprints of 14 batches of Qinghuo samples were also established based on HPLC, and an obvious difference was found between the two species. The chromatographic fingerprints were further analyzed by similarity analysis and HCA. The present study is the first reported evaluation of two origins of Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix by GC-MS and HPLC, which will facilitate quality control and its clinical application.