CLASSIFICATION OF CHINESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE, MOUTAN (PAEONIA SUFFRUTICOSA ANDR.) CORTEX BY MEANS OF PYROLYSIS-HIGH RESOLUTION GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY/PATTERN RECOGNITION

Thirty-eight samples of Moutan (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. )Cortex Obtained from three different regions (Southwest, East and Middle China)and two sam ples of unknown region were subjected to analysis with pyrolysis-high resolution gas chromatography (Py-HRGC). Each sample was thus characterized by thepeak area of 41 peaks in each Py-HRGC profile. Discriminant analysis (DA), PRIMA and SIMCA.pattern recognition were used to recognize the 40×41data matrix These data analysis gave satisfactory results (DA, 100% correct; PRIMA, 100%correct, 92.2%unique; SIMCA, 92.2% correct, 79% unique). The correct classification of Moutan Cortex for the unknown territory was obtained by three pattern recognition methods. The results showed that Py-HRGC/pattern recognition technique might be a potential tool for the identification of Chinese traditional medicine.