Quality evaluation of Sanfu Paste by combining multi-dimensional fingerprint with chemometrics.

BACKGROUND: The investigation of Sanfu paste (SFP) has mostly concentrated on its clinical applications, mechanistic study, and the enhancement of dosage forms; conversely, quality evaluation has been comparatively overlooked and hardly documented. OBJECTIVE: This study seeks to develop a thorough technique for SFP quality evaluation by the integration of multidimensional fingerprinting, chemometrics, and multicomponent content analysis. METHODS: The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC) fingerprinting techniques were established to evaluate compositional similarity among 16 batches of SFP from various geographical sources. Ten primary bioactive constituents-sinapine thiocyanate, corydaline, coptisine, berberine hydrochloride, dehydrocorydaline, euphol, methyl eugenol, safrole, elemicin, and sinapic acid-were quantitatively assessed. Thorough quality evaluation utilised orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). RESULTS: Ten distinct chemical compounds were discovered, demonstrating batch-to-batch diversity in concentration; notably, sinapine thiocyanate and methyl eugenol exhibited comparatively larger abundances. The similarity indices between HPLC and GC fingerprints for 16 SFP batches surpassed 0.9. HCA and PCA produced consistent clustering patterns. The OPLS-DA model exhibited stability and robustness, identifying euphol, dehydrocorydaline, sinapine thiocyanate, and methyl eugenol as the primary discriminatory markers. CONCLUSIONS: This study developed a chemical fingerprinting and quantitative content-determination approach that offers an accurate and dependable instrument for the quality evaluation and thorough assessment of SFP. HIGHLIGHTS: GC and HPLC fingerprinting techniques, along with quantitative content-determination assays for SFP, were established for the inaugural time. These approaches are essential for clarifying the pharmacological foundation of its bioactive components and for thorough quality evaluation.