Ultra-performance liquid chromatography fingerprint combined with chemometrics as an effective strategy for Dianbaizhu species discrimination.

Dianbaizhu a folk medicine used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is made from different species of Gaultheria . The main species is Gaultheria leucocarpa var. yunnanensis but other species are being used as substitutes. The objective was to develop a precise and reproducible method to differentiate among these species. A method was developed by using ultra-performance liquid chromatography in combination with chemometric. The method was validated with relative standard deviations of less than 1.96%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]