Use of X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD) for Identification of Fritillaria According to Geographical Origin

Fritillaria is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine for anti-tussive and expectorant use in China and some other Asian countries. The Fritillaria Chinese medicine material derived from different geographical origins is always difficult to discriminate each other. The objective of the study is to develop a nondestructive and simple method to identify five Fritillaria Chinese materia medica such as Fritillaria thunbergii Miq., Fritillaria ussurensis Maxim., Fritillaria cirrhosa D.Don, Fritillaria pallidifloca Schrenk and Fritillaria hupehensis Hsiao et KC Hsia. X-ray diffraction was utilized to analyze the discrepancy of the Fritillaria from different geographical origins. Because Fritillaria consists of plenty of starch, which is a very good semicrystalline macromolecule, the X-Ray diffraction spectra of Fritillaria powders mainly showed the crystalline properties of starch. The differences in starches crystallinite could be distinguished by X-ray diffraction spectra. X-ray diffraction is proved to be a new and powerful method to discriminate Fritillaria from different geographical origins.