Species authentication and geographical origin discrimination of herbal medicines by near infrared spectroscopy: A review

Abstract

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a rapid and nondestructive analytical technique, integrated with chemometrics, is a powerful process analytical tool for the pharmaceutical industry and is becoming an attractive complementary technique for herbal medicine analysis. This review mainly focuses on the recent applications of NIR spectroscopy in species authentication of herbal medicines and their geographical origin discrimination.

Keywords: Geographical origin discrimination; Herbal medicine; Near infrared spectroscopy; Quality control; Species authentication.

Fig. 1

Projection maps of the DA of the calibration samples of Ephedra plants of three species. Ephedra sinica, Ephedra intermedia and Ephedra equisetina are respectively labeled by (1), (2) and (3) in the two-dimensional map, and represented with light gray, gray and dark gray spots in the three-dimensional map. Reprinted from with permission from Elsevier.

Fig. 2

OPLS-DA score plot for the classification of Pelargonium sidoides and Pelargonium reniforme. Reprinted from with permission from Elsevier.

Fig. 3

Three-dimensional score plot using PC1, PC2, and PC3 for discrimination Ganoderma lucidum from three provinces, class 1, Shandong Province; class 2, Anhui Province; class 3, Zhejiang Province. Reprinted from with permission from Elsevier.