Abstract:Star anise (Illicium verum Hook. f. ) is homology of medicine and food, and its essential oil extracted from fruit is not only applied in food and cosmetic, but also exerts antibacterial and antioxidant activities. In this paper, the MS fingerprints of star anise was established. Nine GC chromatographic peaks were identified as α-pinene (peak 1), limonene (peak 2), linalool (peak 3), estragole (peak 4), anisaldehyde (peak 5), trans-anethole (peak 6), bergapten (peak 7), caryophyllene (peak 8) and farnesol (peak 9),, which were as characteristic peaks in the mutual mode using trans-anethole (peak 6) as reference. By utilizing the fingerprinting, the quality of star anise harvested from 15 regions was investigated and the positive correlativity was fond between the similarity of GC/MS chromatogram and the quality of star anise. This provides guidance to develop quality evaluation method of star anise.
