Guang Pu Xue Yu Guang Pu Fen Xi. 2002 Jun; 22(3): 414-6.

[A rapid method for the identification of untreated Chinese herbs by FT-Raman spectrometry]

Liu J, Sun SQ, Zhou Q, Xie CQ, Tian GM.

Department of Chemistry, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China.

In this paper, two groups of Chinese herbs are investigated, one includes four species of rhubarb in which only one is used to treat against diseases and illnesses as Traditional Chinese Medicine, the other group is a common anemarrhena rhizome, it is found to mix with different materials in it. Both of them are directly identified by means of Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy for the first time. The tiny, delicate varied chemical components of different raw Chinese herbs lead to different characters in vibration frequency of Raman functional groups. It is found that the vibration frequency variance follows a certain specific regularity. The method is more precise and quick than traditional approaches. What is more, it will not damage samples.