The Application of Lab Environment as the External Disturbance in the 3-Stage IR Method for the Facile Discrimination of Danggui Formula Granules

Formula granule (FG), as an improved preparation form of traditional liquid dedoction, is of increasing interest and hence it is necessary to develop facile analytical or discrimination methods. Based on the established 3-Stage IR method, a new external disturbance of lab environment (LE) in which room temperature (RT) is 25-30°C and humidity is 25-30%, is introduced to test its applicability in discrimination of Danggui formula granules from different companies in which the LE is used to affect the prepared KBr pellet to produce enough variations for the 3S-IR method. Firstly, the 2D-spectra and pattern recognition algorithm of principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) are used to select the analytical basis for 2D-COS IR. Secondly, LE-based 2D-COS IR is used for the discrimination. The newly-established LE-based IR can avoid the complex parts of programmed temperature and sampling in IR instrument, and achieve the discrimination of different Danggui Formula Granules.