Determination of four essential oils in cinnamomum cassia by quantitative analysis of multi-components by single marker / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To establish a method of quantitative analysis of multi-components by single marker (QAMS) for determining four essential oils (cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde) in Cinnamomum cassia, and provide the experimental base for establishing the quality standard of Cinnamomum cassia. METHODS: Cinnamaldehyde was used as the internal reference standard, and the relative correction factors (RCF) of cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, and 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde in Cinnamomum cassia were calculated. The contents of the four components were determined by both external standard method and QAMS. The validity of the QAMS method was evaluated by comparison of the quantitative results of both methods. RESULTS: The RCFs had good reproducibility, relative correction factor 0.673, 0.605 and 1.943, with RSDs of 0.529%, 0.373%, and 0.759%, respectively. No significant differences were found in the quantitative analysis results of cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde by using RCF and ESM. CONCLUSION: In the absence of reference substance, the content determination of the four essential oils in Cinnamomum cassia can be realized by QAMS, and this method can be used in the multi-index evaluation of Cinnamomum cassia essential oil constituents. It is suggested that the standard for cinnamaldehyde content be increased to 2.5%, and the contents of total cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid and 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde be not less than 0.2%.