From sample preparation to NMR-based metabolic profiling in food commodities: The case of table olives

Quantitative profiling of comprehensive composition in compound herbal injections: An NMR approach applied on Shenmai injection

INTRODUCTION

Compound herbal injections (CHIs) can be regarded as a significant innovation in the modernisation of herbal medicine. Therefore, improving the quality control level of CHIs has always been an active research topic in traditional herbal medicine.

OBJECTIVES

In this study, Shenmai injection was used as a representative sample for investigating the ability of proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹ H NMR) in the quality evaluation of CHIs.

METHODS

A quantitative ¹ H NMR method was developed to simultaneously determine the contents of total ginsenosides, polysorbate 80, and 20 primary metabolites in Shenmai injection. Multivariate statistical analysis was combined to compare differences between samples from different manufacturers.

RESULTS

It was found that the combined measurement uncertainty of each component is less than 1.61%, which demonstrates the reliability of the method. Furthermore, the components determined by this method account for up to 92.64% of the total solids, which is an unprecedented success in the analysis of Shenmai injection. In the end, the method was applied to the quality comparison of Shenmai injection from six manufacturers. The results showed that the differences among the samples from the six manufacturers were reflected in multiple types of components.

CONCLUSION

This study fully demonstrates the superiority of the quantitative ¹ H NMR method in comprehensive composition profiling of CHIs, which is conducive to improving the quality control level of Shenmai injection. Further, the present study can be used as a reference study for the research on the quality and safety of CHIs.

Assessing the concentration of conjugated fatty acids within pomegranate seed oil using quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR)

INTRODUCTION

Pomegranate seed is rich in oil, and seed oil of pomegranate consists of conjugated fatty acids with different percentages.

OBJECTIVES

The current contribution covers how to determine percentages of different isomeric conjugated fatty acids.

METHODS

The percentages of these isomers are analysed by quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) using benzoic acid as an internal reference chemical with a well-defined amount. Linear mathematical equations are developed for the quantitative analysis of fatty acids found in pomegranate seed oil.

RESULTS

The developed approach is utilised for the pomegranate seed oils prepared in the laboratory and tested for commercial samples. Among the oils derived at the laboratory, the Yeni Hicaz pomegranate cultivar seeds yielded the highest fraction of punicic acid. Among the acids, punicic acid was the one with the highest fraction, while linolenic acid was the one with the lowest percentage.

CONCLUSIONS

These results are important in identifying pomegranate seed oils. Among the commercial samples tested with the current approach, only one of them showed similar content analysis as in the laboratory-derived oils.