Comparative Evaluation of Chrysanthemum Flos from Different Origins by HPLC-DAD-MS n and Relative Response Factors

• DOI: 10.1007/s12161-014-9864-0
• Publication Date: 2014-04-22T21:55:46Z
• Authors: Shan Wang; Li-Juan Hao; Jing-Jing Zhu; Zhi-Min Wang; Xian Zhang; Xiao-mei Song
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

Chrysanthemum Flos (CF), the dry capitulum of the Compositae family of plants, is used in herbal medicine and as tea material in China, as well as other areas of Asia and northeastern Europe. Evidence indicates it may have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cardioprotective function. We developed a HPLC coupled with diode array detection and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS) method to identify and characterize the main chemical components of CF from nine origins, including different species, cultivars, and adulterations, using relative response factors (RRFs). The readily available active component chlorogenic acid was selected as the reference compound for calculating the RRFs of the other seven analytes, including luteolin, quercetin, luteolin-7-O-glucoside, 3,5-dicaffeoylquninic acid, linarin, apigenin, diosmetin, and acacetin. Their RRFs against chlorogenic acid at 340 nm were between 0.506 and 1.103. The variation of RRFs on three columns and two HPLC systems was less than 3.8 %, with good reproducibility. Using the RRFs, the main components of CF were quantified. Furthermore, based on their quantitative comparison results, hierachical clustering analysis (HCA) was employed to differentiate the various origins of CF. The proposed method is appropriate for rapid discrimination of the different origins of CF. It is especially useful for the quantitative analysis of CF when the reference standards of flavonoids and hydroxycinnamoylquinic acids are not readily available.