OBJECTIVETo develop a new method to rapidly determine and identify Guizhi Fuling capsule by portable acousto-optic tunable filter-near infrared spectroscopy.

METHODThe qualitative model was set up using principal component analysis. The correlation models between the NIR spectra and the reference values of five major constituents were obtained with partial least squares method.

RESULTThe identifying model accurately identified Guizhi Fuling capsule, and quantitative analytical models could precisely predicted the content of ellagic acid, baicalin, benzoylpaenoniflorin, cinnamaldehyde, and paeonol. The correlation coefficients of the calibration models were 0.924 2, 0.938 4, 0.924 2, 0.933 6, 0.934 7, the validation set coefficients of the calibration were 0.924 2, 0.938 4, 0.924 2, 0.933 6, 0.934 7, and the RMSEP were 1.138%, 3.014%, 0.751%, 0.625%, 3.455%, 1.363%, respectively. The results of external validation showed no significant difference between the predictive and the determining values by t-test.

CONCLUSIONThe method is accurate, rapid and non-destructive, and can be used for determining and identifying Guizhi Fuling capsule.