Chemical differentiation of volatile compounds in crude and processed Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma by using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry combined with multivariate data analysis.

In the present study, comprehensive 2D GC-TOF-MS combined with multivariate data analysis was applied to analyze the differences of the volatile components in crude and processed Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (AMR) samples. As a result, 26 compounds that were found in crude AMR samples disappeared in processed AMR samples, and 19 compounds were newly generated and identified in AMR after processing with wheat bran. Meanwhile, principal component analysis demonstrated that there were significant chemical differences between crude and processed AMR samples, and processing procedure caused obvious quantitative and qualitative changes of volatile components in AMR. The established method could be used to explain the chemical differentiation between crude and processed AMR, and to further understand the processing mechanism of herbal medicines.