Flash gas chromatography for analysis of volatile compounds from Houttuynia cordata Thunb

This paper describes a novel analytical method, flash gas chromatography (FGC), for the analysis of volatile compounds from Houttuynia cordata Thunb. This method does not demand time-consuming extraction process. The ground powder of the plant material can be directly applied for the analysis and only a few milligrams of sample are needed. The identification of the components was made by FGC-MS. The results between FGC and ordinary GC (using the extracted essential oil as sample) were compared and found that FGC offered a similar number and types of the components with GC. FGC is a novel and feasible method for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs).