Rapid determination of chemical components and antioxidant activity of the fruit of Crataegus pinnatifida Bunge by NIRS and chemometrics

To establish a method for quality evaluation of the fruit of Crataegus pinnatifida Bunge, also known as Shanzha, by near-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics.Seventy-two batches of Shanzha samples were collected, and the content of total components (flavonoids, phenols and organic acids), monomer components (chlorogenic acid, hyperoside and isoquercitrin), as well as the antioxidant activity of 60% ethanol extract were determined by usual methods. Then, all measured values were correlated with the near infrared spectra of Shanzha, and the partial least squares regression models were established. As to improve the model performance, various methods for spectra pretreatment and wavelength selection were investigated.After optimization, the models obtained the coefficients of determination in both calibration and prediction >0.9, and the residual prediction deviations >3, indicating that the models had good prediction abilities.The present method can serve as an alternative to the methods for comprehensive and rapid quality evaluation of Shanzha.