Quality evaluation of Eucommiae Cortex processed by different methods and "sweating" conditions based on simultaneous determination of multiple bioactive constituents combined with gray relational analysis.

Eucommiae Cortex is a classical traditional Chinese medicine, which needs to be processed by "sweating" methods. To select the suitable processing method and "sweating" processing condition for Eucommiae Cortex, in this study, the quality of Eucommiae Cortex was evaluated based on simultaneous determination of multiple bioactive constituents combined with gray relational analysis. The contents of lignans, iridoids, penylpropanoids, flavonoids, and phenols in samples were simultaneously determined using ultra-fast performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometry. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Synergiۛ Hydro-RP 100 Å column (100 mm × 2.0 mm, 2.5 μm) at 30°C with a gradient elution of acetonitrile with 0.1% formic acid/0.1% aqueous formic acid as the mobile phase. Furthermore, gray relational analysis was performed to evaluate and sort the samples according to the contents of 14 constituents by calculating the relative correlation degree of each sample. The results demonstrated that the quality of Eucommiae Cortex "sweating" at source area was better and the better "sweating" condition was to scrape off the cork layer before "sweating" with straw covering and sun drying. The developed method could provide the foundation and support for "sweating" processing method of Eucommiae Cortex in normalization and standardization.