OBJECTIVE

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To comprehensively evaluate the quality of Sanzi powder from different batches based on 12 components quantitative analysis combined with chemical pattern recognition and entropy weight-TOPSIS method.

METHODS

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The contents of 12 components in 15 batches of Sanzi powder （No. S1-S15） were determined by HPLC-MS/MS， such as ethyl gallate， gallic acid， ferulic acid， corilagin， genipin-1-

O

-

β

-D-gentiobioside， toosendanin， geniposide， caffeic acid， methyl deacetylated coumarinate， tannic acid， rutin， quercetin. Cluster analysis （CA）， principal component analysis （PCA）， and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis （OPLS-DA） were conducted on the assay results. Using variable importance projection （VIP） value＞1 and

P

＜0.05 as the evaluation criteria， the quality differential markers in Sanzi powder were screened. The entropy weight method was used to calculate the weight value， and TOPSIS method was used to rank th

e quality of 15 batches of Sanzi powder from superior to inferior.

RESULTS

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The contents of the 12 components were 13.494-24.292， 2 069.608-3 188.100， 1.410-3.616， 1 065.030-2 630.584， 1 404.704-1 838.078， 101.640-354.268， 9 193.720-14 777.854， 1.240-5.060， 148.028-5 541.990， 4 261.422-5 607.438， 107.560-195.512， 2.226-4.192 μg/g， respectively. The results of CA， PCA and OPLS-DA indicated that 15 batches of Sanzi powder could be clustered into two groups. Specifically， batches S3， S7， S10 and S15 were grouped into one category， and remaining batches were grouped into one category. VIP values of geniposide， quercetin， caffeic acid， and methyl deacetylated coumarinate were all greater than 1， with corresponding

P

-values less than 0.05. The results of the entropy weight-TOPSIS analysis revealed that methyl deacetylate exhibited the smallest information entropy and the highest weight. The relative closeness degrees of samples S3， S7， S10 and S15 ranged from 0.789 to 0.973， while the remaining samples ranged from 0.054 to 0.172.

CONCLUSIONS

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The contents of 12 components in Sanzi powder could be determined accurately by using HPLC-MS/MS technology. Methyl deacetylated coumarinate， geniposide， quercetin and caffeic acid were identified as the quality differential markers. It was found that the overall quality of samples S3， S7， S10 and S15 were superior to that of other batches. Notably， the quality of Gardeniae Fructus decoction pieces emerges as a critical factor in ensuring the consistency of the preparation’s quality.