Metabolic profiling of piper species by direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry combined with principal component analysis

Abstract

Piper nigrum (Black pepper), Piper longum (Indian tipali) and Piper chaba (Bangla tipali) are widely used medicinal herbs in traditional Indian systems of medicine. P. longum as well as P. chaba are considered as the inferior substituent of P. nigrum. A rapid chemical method of analysis was developed to generate the chemical fingerprints as an alternative means to the only available morphological basis of identification of these species. Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry was applied to generate a chemical fingerprints for various parts viz. fruit, leaf and root of these Piper species followed by multivariate analysis for discrimination. Principal Component Analysis of DARTMS data served as a reliable method for species identification. Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of mainly alkaloids in various parts of Piper species. The results showed that different Piper species could be successfully differentiated using DARTMS fingerprinting together with principal component analysis and it is a promising method for rapid identification and quality control of Piper species.