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Comparison of various commercially available cinnamon barks using NMR metabolomics and the quantification of coumarin by quantitative NMR methods

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Abstract

Cinnamon bark is an important spice worldwide. In this study, the chemical diversity of various commercially available cinnamon barks that differed in their production areas and utility applications (culinary spice or medicines) were investigated by the use of 1H NMR metabolomics. Our results indicated that principle component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) of the 1H NMR spectra of the cinnamon bark methanolic extracts including the deduction of their species by nucleotide sequence analysis enabled differentiation of the cinnamon barks according to their species, production areas and utility applications. The constituents of Vietnam cinnamon were found to differ significantly from the other samples investigated based on PCA score plots and HCA constellation dendrograms. Coumarin was found to be a key compound for the discrimination of Vietnamese cinnamon by multivariate analysis of the 1H NMR spectral data and direct comparison of the 1H NMR spectra. In addition, coumarin was quantified using quantitative NMR methods. As a result, coumarin was contained in Vietnamese cinnamon at a higher level compared to other cinnamons. This study indicated that 1H NMR metabolomics could deduce spices, utility, and producing area of commercially available cinnamon barks. Furthermore, combining quantitative 1H NMR methods with 1H NMR metabolomics enable quantification of coumarin in cinnamon bark on a single measurement.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP16K08302. We are grateful to Dr. Katsuo Asakura at JEOL Ltd., for his suggestions regarding quantitative NMR (qNMR) methods.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Natural Products and Phytochemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Josai University, 1-1 Keyakidai, Sakado, Saitama, 350-0295, Japan

    Ryuichiro Suzuki, Yuki Kasuya, Aiko Sano, Junki Tomita & Masashi Kitamura

  2. Division of Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry and Narcotics, National Institute of Health Sciences, 3-25-26 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, 210-9501, Japan

    Takuro Maruyama

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  1. Ryuichiro Suzuki
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  2. Yuki Kasuya
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  3. Aiko Sano
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  4. Junki Tomita
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  6. Masashi Kitamura
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Correspondence to Ryuichiro Suzuki.

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Suzuki, R., Kasuya, Y., Sano, A. et al. Comparison of various commercially available cinnamon barks using NMR metabolomics and the quantification of coumarin by quantitative NMR methods. J Nat Med 76, 87–93 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-021-01554-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-021-01554-6

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