Classification of resinous plants based on the LC-MS and the LC-UV finger-prints: Similarities and differences between the plants chemical compositions using ACP and CAH

Resinous plants have been used for a long time by human being mainly for their several advantages in medical and cosmetic use. The resin is defined as a sticky substance excreted by some plants that are naturally or mechanically wounded. In several references the word resin is used abusively in stead of exudates. The exudates can contain many kinds of chemical substances such as polysaccharides, terpenes and others. The aim of this study was to classify the different resins based on their chemical composition and to compare this classification to the botanic one, in order to verify the environmental impact on the plants development and authenticity of the studied plants. A same analytical method was optimized for the separation of the resinous extracts components using two different supports that were octadecyl silane and porous graphitic carbon columns. Than the detection was performed using UV detector at 250nm and an evaporative light scattering detector before coupling to mass spectrometry detector equipped with an atmospheric pressure photoionisation source. The obtained results allowed a best comprehension of the botanic classification of the studied plants and proved that the environmental conditions and geographical situations may modify for true the chemical products in the same plants species.

It has been proved thank to the developed method that ACP and CAH chemometric methods based on LC-MS data are very useful techniques for the classification of plants with different geographical origins.

We believe that liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry is a powerful method of detection and should be used more often for the phytochemistry classification and identification of plant species.