DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v25i1.126

Keywords: Plant medicines; chemometrics analysis; classification; analytical approach; bioactive compounds

Abstract

All across the world, plant-based medicines and therapeutics are receiving increasing attention. Many studies have been performed, with several modern analytical techniques applied to assess the quality of these medicinal plants. Notably, the use of chemometrics in the study of medicinal plants is natural and essential. This study developed an easy and accurate analytical approach for classifying many plants using HPLC, UV-vis spectroscopy, and chemometrics analysis. The study analyzed 90 samples, and the differences and similarities between these were determined using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Clustering (HCA) analysis. The results were validated using the Partial Least Squares method (PLS) and Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). The HCA and PCA successfully distributed the samples into separate groups based on HPLC and UV-vis data, while PLS and PLS-DA analysis confirmed these results (R2 = 0.849 - 0.891, RMSEE = 8.83 - 4.907, and RMSEcv =11.81 - 7.399, respectively). Bioactive compounds in plants such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, etc. were described and used to classify the plants. Based on these findings, closely-related plant species may be identified and differentiated using this method.