ABSTRACT
Objective: To study the correlation between the apparent color of the samples and the important variable components of HPLC fingerprint of rice-processed Codonopsis Radix (rpCR) in processing and its quality transfer law, and lay the foundation for revealing the processing principle of rpCR. Methods: This experiment was based on the experience of the process of rpCR and the apparent color change of traditional processed slices, the visual analyzer was used to analyze the change of apparent color of rpCR from different process time. HPLC fingerprint was used to evaluate the dynamic changes of chemical constituents of rpCR in processing. Then, the multivariate statistical method was used to analyze the correlation between the apparent color and the important variable components of the HPLC fingerprint. Results: In the processing of rpCR, the total color value (E*) of sample powder showed a downward trend, the apparent color of the samples changed from light yellowish brown to dark yellow; The proportions of the 10 chemical components varied greatly, corresponding to peaks of 7, 9, 10, 2, 3, 1, 20, 15, 6, and 4 in HPLC fingerprint, among them peak 4 was confirmed to be 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde; Components 1, 3 and 4 were highly significantly and negatively relevant with the change of total color value Eab*, and peak 2 was highly significantly and positively correlated with the change of total color value Eab*, while peak 6 and peak 15 were positively relevant with the change of total color value Eab*. Conclusion: Compounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 15 were the components with obvious changes in process of rpCR, which were significantly correlated with the change of color and could be used as chemical markers for the monitoring processing and quality control of rpCR.