Guangdong Engineering and Technology Research Centre for Quality and Efficacy Re-evaluation of Post-market Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Phytochem Anal. 2019 May;30(3):278-291. doi: 10.1002/pca.2812. Epub 2018 Dec 26.
Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium (CRP), comprising dried pericarps of Citrus reticulata Blanco and its cultivars, is popularly used for its great medicinal and dietary values. Generally, the pericarps from C. reticulate "Chachi" ("Guangchenpi" in Chinese, GCP) is considered to have superior qualities and merit premium price compared with CRP derived from other cultivars (collectively called "Chenpi" in Chinese, CP). Since its multiple origins and derived economic adulteration, it is significant to systematically compare the chemical profiles of different CRP varieties.
The main objective of this work was to identify the chemical profiles of CRP from different varieties and find out potential chemical markers for differentiating GCP and CP.
In the present study, a total of 42 CRP samples from 10 varieties (including GCP and CP) were analysed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) for chemical profiling. Obtained MS/MS data were further employed in multivariate statistical methods to screen the main compounds which contributed to the characterisation and classification of CRP.
As a result, 73 compounds (mainly flavonoids) were identified or tentatively characterised in these CRP samples. Based on the obtained chemical profiles data, GCP and CP samples could be easily discriminated from each other by statistical analyses. Moreover, seven compounds were selected as having the most discriminating features which contributed to the classification of CRP.
This work obtains a better understanding of the chemical profiles of different CRP varieties and provides a practical strategy for the authentication of GCP and CP.
化橘红（CRP）是芸香科植物橘及其栽培变种的干燥外层果皮，具有较高的药用和食用价值。一般来说，“Chachi”（中文为“广陈皮”，GCP）的橘红外果皮质量上乘，价格也高于其他品种的 CRP（中文统称“陈皮”，CP）。由于其起源多样且存在经济掺伪，系统比较不同 CRP 品种的化学特征图谱具有重要意义。
本研究旨在鉴定不同 CRP 品种的化学特征图谱，找出鉴别 GCP 和 CP 的潜在化学标志物。
本研究采用超高效液相色谱-四极杆飞行时间串联质谱（UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS）对 10 个品种（包括 GCP 和 CP）的 42 个 CRP 样本进行了化学特征图谱分析。所得 MS/MS 数据进一步应用于多元统计方法，以筛选出对 CRP 特征和分类有贡献的主要化合物。
结果表明，在这些 CRP 样本中鉴定或初步鉴定出 73 种化合物（主要为类黄酮）。基于所得化学特征图谱数据，通过统计分析可轻松区分 GCP 和 CP 样品。此外，还选择了 7 种化合物作为具有最具鉴别特征的化合物，有助于 CRP 的分类。
本研究加深了对不同 CRP 品种化学特征图谱的理解，并为 GCP 和 CP 的鉴别提供了实用策略。
