Study on the digitized and quantified evaluating method for the super information cluster of traditional Chinese medicine ultraviolet spectral fingerprints

The theories of ultraviolet spectral fingerprint (UVFP) index, information index, fluctuation index, information fluctuation index combined with the quantified UV fingerprint method (QUFM) had been established and put into practice in the Ginkgo Tablets (GT) quality evaluation. The flowing injection analysis (FIA) coupled with a diode array detector was applied as a novel method to obtain the UVFP in the region of 190-400 nm at which the absorption can reflect all the information of the chemical constituents contained π→π*, n→π* and n→σ* transition. The result showed that all batches were qualified (Grade ≤3) except S8 for its too high contents. It was proved that this method made the expression of superposed information in UVFP of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) digitized and simple. What’s more, an approach which can test the total chemical content with the chromophoric characteristics in the complex system of TCM rapidly, simply and accurately was achieved by the application of QUFM. In one word, it made the exploration of the general characteristic information of the molecular absorption complex TCM in the ultraviolet regions feasible and possible.