Chemometrics-based Approach in Analysis of Arnicae flos

Area of Science:

• Phytochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Pharmacognosy

Background:

• Arnica montana (Arnica flowers) has a historical use in traditional medicine for injuries and rheumatic conditions.
• The chemical composition of Arnica flowers, particularly phenolic compounds and sesquiterpene lactones (STLs), is of interest for its medicinal properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze phenolic derivatives and sesquiterpene lactones (STLs) in cultivated Arnica flowers from various European origins.
• To differentiate Arnica accessions based on their chemical profiles using multivariate statistical analysis.

Main Methods:

• Ultrasound-assisted extraction with 80% methanol was used for phenolic compound analysis.
• High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection was employed for separating and quantifying phenolic acids and flavonoids.
• Total STLs were determined using solid-phase extraction-HPLC.
• Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering (HC) were applied to the chromatographic data.

Main Results:

• Finnish Arnica samples exhibited the highest concentration of phenolic acids (2.36 mg/g dw).
• Astragalin was the most abundant flavonol glycoside, found up to 3.37 mg/g.
• PCA and HC identified three distinct clusters, with German and Finnish samples showing higher flavonol content compared to Bulgarian and Polish samples.

Conclusions:

• A validated HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of phenolic compounds in Arnica flowers.
• Quercetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin were identified as key compounds for distinguishing between different Arnica accessions.
• Chemical profiling revealed geographical variations in the phenolic content of Arnica montana.