The Analysis Of Schisandra Chinesis Fruits AND Schisandra Sphenantherae Fruits By Flash Evaporation-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

Schisandra fruits,a kind of Chinese traditional medicine,have been used for thousands years for their effects on the lung,kidney and heart channels.Lignans and essential oil are the main bioactive constituents in Schisandra fruits.Schisandra fruits have been divided into Schisandra chinesis fruits and Schisandra sphenantherae fruits,on the basis of their growing places.Due to the different origins,the compositions of lignans and essential oil of Schisandra chinesis fruits and Schisandra sphenantherae fruits are quite different,as well as the pharmacological functions and prices.Schisandra chinesis fruits are considered of better quality.Nowadays the extraction methods of lignans(maceration extraction,ultrasonic extraction and SFE-CO2)and essential oil(steam distillation,ultrasonic-microwave assisted steam distillation,SFE-CO2 and SPME)are not only tedious pretreatment,solvent-consuming but also resulting in incomplete extraction.Flash evaporation has been successfully used in food,tobacco and Chinese herb medicine?In this study,flash evaporation-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry were used in analysis of Schisandra fruits.At first,the effect on the FE temperature,sample amount and the chromatographic conditions were studied to optimize the experimental conditions.On the optimal conditions,the FE chromatograms of two different Schisandra fruit samples were obtained and compounds obtained were identified.The results show that the compounds of lignans and essential oil are quite different.Second,20 Schisandra samples from 6 provinces were analyzed by FE-GC on the optimal conditions.The chromatograms of Schisandra fruits from Heilongjiang,Jilin and Liaoning Province are similar while those of Schisandra fruits from Shaanxi,Sichuan and Shanxi Province are similar.32 character peaks were selected to form fingerprint of Schisandra fruits.The results of principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis are in accordance with the traditional classification of Schisandra fruits.Lastly,similarity evaluation method was established for the quality control of Schisandra fruits.11 Schisandra chinesis fruit samples and 9 Schisandra sphenantherae fruit samples were selected as standard samples to form standard characteristics fingerprints on the basis of the 32 characteristic peaks.The similarity values of samples are all above 0.95 compared with the standard characteristics fingerprints.So 0.95 was selected as the appropriate threshold.On the basis of the standard characteristics fingerprints,2 origin-unknown samples and 4 mixed samples were analyzed.The results show that similarity evaluation method is suitable to quality control of Schisandra samples.This study demonstrates the potential of FE-GC/MS combined with chemical approach for assessment of quality control of the raw materials of herbal medicine.