HPLC–DAD fingerprinting coupled with chemometric analysis can successfully differentiate Indian Berberis species and its plant parts

Identification of the plant parts and genuine species is one of the most important steps for the quality control of raw material used in herbal medicines. In the present study, comparative analysis of TLC, HPLC and FTIR-ATR fingerprinting in conjunction with chemometric method was done to select the most appropriate fingerprinting method for quality control of Berberis aristata and its related species. To achieve this, extracts were first utilized to obtain TLC, HPLC and FT-IR fingerprinting data. The data was analyzed by chemometric methods and similarity analysis. The PCA model obtained with HPLC fingerprinting method could successfully classify the Berberis species as well plant parts viz. root, stem and leaves which was not possible with the PCA model of TLC or FT-IR fingerprints. Similarity analysis based on the mean HPLC fingerprinting chromatogram could also appropriately assess the chemical variability and identification of different Berberis species.