Metabolomic analysis of Lavandula dentata L. and Lavandula stoechas L. extracts by LC-QTOF/MS experiments and multivariate analysis techniques as a chemotaxonomical tool

Abstract

Lavandula stoechas L. and Lavandula dentata L. have been widely used as popular herbal medicines in the Mediterranean region to treat digestive disorders and kidney diseases. Both species have quite a similar morphology, which makes them too frequently share the same popular name and be often used indistinctly in traditional medicine although they have different properties. The aim of this study was to use metabolomics approaches, followed by multivariate analyses to facilitate the taxonomical classifications. A non-targeted metabolomic strategy based on high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF/MS) has been applied to two hydroalcoholic extracts from Lavandula species (L. dentata L. and L. stoechas L.) with the aim of elucidating the major discriminatory metabolites. The principal component analysis of the LC-QTOF/MS data showed a clear discrimination between both species, using the first two principal components. The key compounds responsible for the discrimination were tentatively identified as sucrose and glycosylated flavonoids by comparison with spectral data bases and previous studies. These results clearly show that both plant species have a different expression pattern for these marker metabolites that might be potentially used as a novel chemotaxonomical tool, in addition to classical approaches.