Objective: To develop quantitative methods for rapid and nondestructive determination of phenolic compounds and water in Magnolae Officinalis Cortex using near-infrared (NIR) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Method: 99 batches of Magnolae Officinalis Cortex samples were collected from different regions of China.Partial least squares (PLS) method was used to establish NIR quantitative models for determinations of water and phenolic compounds in samples. The reference analyses were performed with oven-drying method and ultra performance liquid chromatography method respectively for determination of water and phenolic compounds. Correlation coefficient and predicted root mean square error were also used for evaluating the estimated performance of the models. Result: For water

magnolol

honokiol

and magnolol+honokiol

root mean square errors of calibration set were 0.156

0.120

0.133 and 0.236

respectively;the correlation coefficients were 0.8728

0.9899

0.9769 and 0.9812

respectively;and principal components were 4

6

9 and 5

respectively. Predicted root mean square errors of the four analytes reached 0.161

0.154

0.179 and 0.248

respectively. Conclusion: The developed analytical method based upon NIR spectroscopy was proved to be rapid

accurate

and non-destructive

which can be used for rapid quality evaluation of Magnolae Officinalis Cortex.