Resolution of the essential constituents of Ramulus cinnamomi by an evolving chemometric approach

The analysis of complex mixtures, such as those of traditional Chinese medi cine (TCM), is difficult by conventional methods of analysis. Chemometric m ethods provide a new way to solve such problems. Subwindow factor analysis (SFA) paired with the evolving window orthogonal projection (EWOP) method, has been used as a new evolving approach to the resolution of volatile comp onents of Ramulus cinnamomi (RC). Compared with conventional chromatographi c analysis, the chromatographic separation conditions necessary are greatly mitigated in our approach, yet the accuracy of qualitative and quantitativ e results is improved, because the measured data matrix has been resolved i nto chromatograms and mass spectra of the chemical components. Our method i s, moreover, friendly to use and easy to program. Experimental results show the efficiency and convenience of the proposed approach. Forty-seven of th e seventy-eight separated constituents in an essential oil, accounting for 89.55% of the sample, were identified by mass spectroscopy (MS).