Planta Med 2012; 78 - P_132
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1307640

Differentiation of Four Cinnamomum Species using UPLC-QTOF MSE and MarkerLynx™ XS

YH Wang 1, B Avula 1, M Wang 1, NPD Nanayakkara 1, IA Khan 1, 2
  • 1National Center for Natural Products Research, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • 2Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi, MS 38677, USA

Cinnamon is one of the most popular flavors in the USA. Some cinnamon varieties could be potential sources of coumarin. Because of evidence of hepatotoxic effects of coumarin in animal models, the US Food and Drug Administration banned coumarin as a food flavoring agent in 1954. Cinnamon or “True Cinnamon” refers to the dried inner bark of Cinnamomum verum (syn. C zeylanicum) (Ceylon cinnamon). However, the bark of three other species C. aromaticum, C. loureiroi and C. burmannii, which are commonly known as cassia, are also sold under the label of cinnamon in Europe and USA. Cassia species contained substantial amounts of coumarin. Trade data and recent studies indicate that C. burmannii or Indonesian cassia has replaced the more expensive Ceylon cinnamon in Europe, USA and Canada. Previous studies showed that C. burmannii samples sold in US as Indonesian cinnamon had higher contents of coumarin which varied from 0.1%-0.9% [1–2].

With the purpose of finding a possible discriminate method among Cinnamomum species, a method combined UPLC-QTOF MSE and a Multivariate Statistical Analysis (MSA) technique was adapted for the analysis of cinnamon samples. MSA application software, MarkerlynxTM reduces the 3-D LC/MS data set (retention time, m/z, and intensity) down to an EMRT-Intensity 2-D data set, where EMRT stands for Exact Mass Retention Time pair. MSA is then used to profile the samples so that sample grouping can be observed and markers that are key for grouping contribution can be identified. In this work, the UPLC-QTOF MSE/Multivariate Statistical Analysis (MSA) was performed for a total of 79 samples including control samples which were pooled with authentic samples of four Cinnammomum species. The identities of the key markers were obtained by elemental composition search, tandem mass and matching the results with components reported from Cinnamomum species. Four Cinnamomum species differentiable on the basis of identified key markers. Principal component analysis (PCA) of 79 cinnamon samples is shown in Figure 1.

Acknowledgements : This research is supported in part by Science Based Authentication of Dietary Supplements funded by the Food and Drug Administration grant No. 1U01FD004246–01; the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Specific Cooperative Agreement No. 58–6408–2-0009, and the Global Research Network for Medicinal Plants (GRNMP), King Saud University. References: [1] United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database. (2011) UN comtrade (http://comtrade.un.org/db/). [2] Sproll C, Ruge W., et al. (2008) Food Chem 109: 482–469.