Quality Evaluation and Regional Analysis of Psoraleae Fructus by HPLC-DAD-MS/MS plus Chemometrics

Objective To evaluate the quality of Psoralea corylifolia collected from 12 provinces of China. Methods An HPLC-DAD-MS/MS method was used to identify, determine, and estimate 14 representative bioactive compounds in P. corylifolia. Then on the basis of the content data, the chemometrics method was used to differentiate 20 samples from different regions. Results The quality of P. corylifolia from 12 different provinces of China was evaluated by this method. Though the samples showed similar profiles, content of the detected markers varied significantly in different regions and batches. According to the results of the hierarchical cluster analysis and principle component analysis, it can be concluded that the samples from different origins could be clustered reasonably into two groups, as well as successfully distinguished. Conclusion A simple and reliable new method which used HPLC-DAD-MS/MS and chemometrics has been developed to characterize, classify, and control the quality of P. corylifolia.