Exploring the apparent properties and Q-markers for quality control of Cornus officinalis

Cornus officinalis Siebold & Zucc. has a high nutritious value and is widely used in food fields. To distinguish the quality of cornus in different areas, this research provided a new strategy for comprehensively evaluating cornus. As a result, 12 iridoid glycosides and 7 polyphenols were identified and quantified by UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS in 13 batches of samples from five different origins. Chromaticity analysis pointed out that pelargonidin-3-O-galactoside, total iridoids, and total polyphenols performed high relation with 1365*. Antioxidant activity and inhibition of α-glucosidase effect correlated with the chemical analysis suggested that iridoid glycosides and polyphenols should represent bioactivity of total extracts. Among these compounds, loganic acid, 7-ketologanin, cornuside I, and pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside were regarded as quality markers of cornus, which displayed the highest correlation with appearance. Above all, this paper contributed to establishing standards of external character and internal components for quality control of cornus.