Planta Med 2012; 78 - P_128
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1307636

Sample Comparison of Chamomile by Chemical Profiling using UPSFC/MS

MD Jones 1, B Avula 2, K Yu 1, YH Wang 2, M Wang 2, D Moore 1, W Potts 1, IA Khan 2, 3
  • 1Waters Corporation, 34 Maple Street, Milford, MA, USA
  • 2National Center for Natural Products Research, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Mississippi, MS 38677, USA
  • 3Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi, MS 38677, USA

Natural product ingredient profiling has always been a challenging task due to the complexity of the utilization of separation sciences to analyze the samples. The analyte diversity requires the utility of multiple analytical techniques to provide orthogonality which can best provide comprehensive knowledge of the analyte composition. Presently, a variety of analytical techniques exist (such as HPTLC, UPLC, GC, NMR etc) which cover a range of chemical space. Packed Column Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (pSFC) covers a wide range of compounds both in functionality and polarity. Fundamentally, any compound soluble in solvent with polarity equal or less than methanol is a good candidate for pSFC. The novelty of analyzing by pSFC could enhance the comprehensive insight to natural product profiling.

Chamomile is often used for relieve symptom of sleeplessness, anxiety, and gastrointestinal conditions. The flowering tops of the chamomile plant are used to make teas, liquid extracts etc. Normally, Chamomile refers to either German chamomile or Roman chamomile, which are from the same family (Asteraceae) but belong to different genera. In this paper, we use Chamomile as an application example to investigate the advantages and limitations of a new technology UPSFC (Ultra Performance Supercritical Fluid Chromatography).

We will present our investigation result on the comparison of German chamomile and Roman chamomile by performing chemical profiling of the two plants using UPSFC, the analytical detectors used are PDA and MS. The UPSFC result is also compared with our previous results obtained from multiple analytical techniques (HPTLC, GC-MS, and UPLC-UV-MS).