The odor fingerprint of Pollygonati Rhizoma samples with different mildewing degrees was analyzed and the relationship between the odor variation and the mildewing degree was explored. A fast discriminant model was established according to the response intensity of electronic nose. The α-FOX3000 electronic nose was applied to analyze the odor fingerprint of Pollygonati Rhizoma samples with different mildewing degrees and the radar map was used to analyze the main contributors among the volatile organic compounds. The feature data were processed and analyzed by partial least squares discriminant analysis(PLS-DA), K-nearest neighbor(KNN), sequential minimal optimization(SMO), random forest(RF) and naive Bayes(NB), respectively. According to the radar map of the electronic nose, the response values of three sensors, namely T70/2, T30/1, and P10/2, increased with the mildewing, indicating that the Pollygonati Rhizoma produced alkanes and aromatic compounds after the mildewing. According to PLS-DA model, Pollygonati Rhizoma samples of three mildewing degrees could be well distinguished in three areas. Afterwards, the variable importance analysis of the sensors was carried out and then five sensors that contributed a lot to the classification were screened out: T70/2, T30/1, PA/2, P10/1 and P40/1. The classification accuracy of all the four models(KNN, SMO, RF, and NB) was above 90%, and KNN was most accurate(accuracy: 97.2%). Different volatile organic compounds were produced after the mildewing of Pollygonati Rhizoma, and they could be detected by electronic nose, which laid a foundation for the establishment of a rapid discrimination model for mildewed Pollygonati Rhizoma. This paper shed lights on further research on change pattern and quick detection of volatile organic compounds in moldy Chinese herbal medicines.
Electronic Nose ; Odorants/analysis* ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis* ; Bayes Theorem ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/analysis* ; Discriminant Analysis

Objective: To establish a method for rapid detection of DB-WAX capillary column and determination of the workplace air in 30 kinds of volatile organic pollutants. Methods: In August 2020, N-pentane, n-hexane, methylcyclohexane, octane, Acetone, ethyl acetate, butanone, benzene, 3-pentanone, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, toluene, butyl acetate, 2-hexanone, Isoamyl acetate, ethylbenzene, p-xylene, m-xylene, amyl acetate, o-xylene, chlorobenzene, styrene, cyclohexanone, P-chlorotoluene, bromobenzene, M-dichlorobenzene, p-dichlorobenzene, O-dichlorobenzene, o-Chlorotoluene, 1, 2 , 4-trichlorobenzene of 30 kinds of substances in air were collected by activated carbon tube. After analysis by carbon disulfide, the analytical solution was analyzed by DB-WAX column and determined by FID detector. Results: The above 30 kinds of volatile organic pollutants had good separation effect, the correlation coefficient of the standard curve was above 0.999, the relative standard deviation was 0.1%-3.2%, the desorption efficiency was 77.0%-117.1% , the lower limit of quantitation was 0.33-5.33 μg/ml, and the lowest quantitation concentration was 0.22-3.55 mg/m(3), the recoveries ranged was 95.4%-104.9%. Conclusion: The method can effectively separate and accurately determine 30 volatile organic compounds in these workplaces, and the method is simple and quick.
Air Pollutants, Occupational/analysis* ; Benzene/analysis* ; Chromatography, Gas ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis* ; Workplace

Air Pollutants, Occupational ; analysis ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; analysis ; Workplace

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Solvents ; analysis ; chemistry ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; analysis ; chemistry

Licorice is one of the most commonly used traditional Chinese medicine. In clinic, raw licorice and honey-fried licorice are used in medicines, with the main effects in clearing away heat and detoxifying, moistening lungs and removing phlegm. Honey-fried licorice has effects in nourishing the spleen and stomach and replenishing Qi and pulse. Because traditional Chinese medicine exerts the effects through multiple components and multiple targets, the index components used in the quality evaluation of licorice are often difficult to reflect their real quality. In addition, most of studies for the quality standards have shown that honey-fried licorice are the same as licorice, with a lack of quality evaluation standards that can demonstrate their processing characteristics. The quality of medicine is directly related to its clinical efficacy, so it is necessary to establish a more effective quality control method. Licorice has a beany smell, which is one of the main quality identification characteristics. In this study, by taking advantage of the odor characteristics, a headspace-gas chromatography-ion migration mass spectrometry technology was used to establish a quality evaluation method. A total of 76 volatile components were identified. Through the dynamic principal component analysis, 7 kinds of volatile substances in raw licorice and 13 kinds of volatile substances in honey-fried licorice were statistically obtained, and could be taken as index components for the quality evaluation of raw and honey-fried licorice, respectively. This study could help realize the combination and unification of modern detection and traditional quality evaluation methods, and make a more realistic evaluation for the quality of licorice.
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Glycyrrhiza ; Honey ; analysis ; Ion Mobility Spectrometry ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; analysis

The volatile oil of Chuanxiong Rhizoma(CX) is known as an effective fraction. In order to seek a suitable method for processing CX and its decoction pieces, this study selected 16 volatile components as indices to investigate how different processing methods such as washing/without washing, sun-drying, baking, oven-drying and far-infrared drying at different temperatures affected the quality of CX and its decoction pieces(fresh CX was partially dried, cut into pieces, and then dried) by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS), cluster analysis, principal component analysis and comprehensive weighted scoring. The results showed that the rapid washing before processing did not deteriorate the volatile components of CX. Considering the practical condition of production area, oven-drying was believed to be more suitable than sun-drying, baking, and far-infrared drying. The CX decoction pieces with a thickness of 0.3-0.4 cm were recommended to be oven-dried at 50 ℃. The integrated processing(partial drying, cutting into pieces, and drying) did not cause a significant loss of volatile components. For the fresh CX, the oven-drying at 60 ℃ is preferred. The temperature should not exceed 60 ℃, and drying below 60 ℃ will prolong the processing time, which will produce an unfavorable effect on volatile components. This study has provided the scientific evidence for field processing of CX, which is conducive to realizing the normalization and standardization of CX processing in the production area and stabilizing the quality of CX and its decoction pieces.
Desiccation ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Oils, Volatile ; Principal Component Analysis ; Rhizome/chemistry* ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis*

Environmental Monitoring ; methods ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Humans ; Industry ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; analysis

Radiotherapy uses high-energy X-rays or other particles to destroy cancer cells and medical practitioners have used this approach extensively for cancer treatment (Hachadorian et al., 2020). However, it is accompanied by risks because it seriously harms normal cells while killing cancer cells. The side effects can lower cancer patients' quality of life and are very unpredictable due to individual differences (Bentzen, 2006). Therefore, it is essential to assess a patient's body damage after radiotherapy to formulate an individualized recovery treatment plan. Exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be changed by radiotherapy and thus used for medical diagnosis (Vaks et al., 2012). During treatment, high-energy X-rays can induce apoptosis; meanwhile, cell membranes are damaged due to lipid peroxidation, converting unsaturated fatty acids into volatile metabolites (Losada-Barreiro and Bravo-Díaz, 2017). At the same time, radiotherapy oxidizes water, resulting in reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can increase the epithelial permeability of pulmonary alveoli, enabling the respiratory system to exhale volatile metabolites (Davidovich et al., 2013; Popa et al., 2020). These exhaled VOCs can be used to monitor body damage caused by radiotherapy.
Breath Tests/methods* ; Exhalation ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Respiratory System/chemistry* ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis*

To explore the effect of different processing methods and conditions of coumarin and volatile compounds in Angelica Dahuricae Radix and their change regularity, in order to optimize and establish appropriate drying methods and conditions. After being cleaned, fresh Angelica Dahuricae Radix herbs were baked, sun-dried, shade-dried, sun-dried after sulfur-fumigation, dried by quick-lime embedding, freeze-dried, microwave-dried. Finally, 24 groups of samples were obtained after being mashed and passing through the 60-mesh screen. The HPLC-PDA method was adopted to simultaneously determine the content of coumarin compounds. The GC-MS method was used to determine the content of volatile compounds. The principal component analysis (PCA) was made on the standardized analysis results for the 24 groups of samples processed with different drying methods. According to the PCA results, the comprehensive scores of coumarin and volatile compounds in Angelica Dahuricae Radix herbs processed with different methods in the order from high to low were that unpeeled and dried by quicklime embedding > unpeeled and dried with hot-air at 100 degrees C > unpeeled and dried with hot-air at 40 degrees C > peeled and infrared-dried > peeled and dried with hot-air at 60 degrees C > peeled and dried with hot-air at 40 degrees C > peeled and sun-dried > peeled and dried with hot-air at 60 degrees C > peeled and dried with hot-air at 100 degrees C > peeled and microwave-dried > peeled and dried with hot-air at 80 degrees C > unpeeled and sun-dried > unpeeled and dried with sulfur-fumigation > peeled and dried with sulfur-fumigation > unpeeled and dried with hot-air at 120 degrees C > unpeeled and freeze-dried > unpeeled and infrared-dried > peeled and dried with hot-air at 120 degrees C > peeled and freeze-dried > peeled and dried by quicklime embedding > unpeeled and dried with hot-air at 80 degrees C > peeled and shade-dried > unpeeled and shade-dried > unpeeled and microwave-dried. According to the findings, different drying processing methods have certain impacts on the content coumarin and volatile compounds in Angelica Dahuricae Radix herbs. The traditional method of drying by quicklime embedding is recommended as the optimum origin processing method of Angelica Dahuricae Radix, which is followed by the method for being peeled and dried with hot-air at 100 degrees C.
Angelica ; chemistry ; Coumarins ; analysis ; Desiccation ; methods ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Hot Temperature ; Principal Component Analysis ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the chemical transformation of volatile compounds in sulfur-fumigated Radix Angelicae Sinensis.

METHODSA comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) and high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HR-TOF/MS) with colorized fuzzy difference (CFD) method was used to investigate the effect of sulfur-fumigation on the volatile components from Radix Angelicae Sinensis.

RESULTSTwenty-five compounds that were found in sun-dried samples disappeared in sulfur-fumigated samples. Seventeen volatile components including two sulfur-containing compounds were newly generated for the first time in volatile oils of sulfur-fumigated Radix Angelicae Sinensis.

CONCLUSIONThe strategy can be successfully applied to rapidly and holistically discriminate sun-dried and sulfur-fumigated Radix Angelicae Sinensis. GC×GC-HR-TOF/MS based CFD is a powerful and feasible approach for the global quality evaluation of Radix Angelicae Sinensis as well as other herbal medicines.

Color ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Fumigation ; Fuzzy Logic ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Oils, Volatile ; analysis ; Reference Standards ; Sulfur ; analysis ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; analysis