Exploratory Chemometric Analysis on Source of Origin and Cultivar of Chinese Wolfberries Using Liquid Chromatograph−Mass Spectrometric and Flow Injection Mass Spectrometric (FIMS) Fingerprints

Lycium barbarum L. fruits (Chinese wolfberries) from different cultivation locations and with different cultivar types may vary in nutritional composition and market value. The relationships between different wolfberry cultivation locations and cultivars were studied by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (UPLC−MS) and flow injection mass spectrometric (FIMS) fingerprinting techniques combined with chemometrics techniques. The principal component analysis (PCA) was able to obtain graphical overviews of the spectrometric data sets. The similarity analysis and the hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) were also performed to study the similarities or differences between the phytochemical fingerprints of wolfberries produced from different locations, as well as different wolfberries cultivars. All results by the exploratory chemometric analyses indicated that the fingerprints of wolfberries were closely related to their producing locations and cultivars. The results might be utilized for Chinese wolfberry authentication.