Objective:

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To evaluate the feasibility of heat-treating de-sulfur method for sulfur-fumigated Codonopsis Radix (CR) by investigating the changes in contents of sulfur dioxide residue and sulfur-containing derivatives after sulfur-fumigation.

Method:

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Qualitative and semi-quantitative characterization of sulfur-containing derivatives was analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight-mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS)

and sulfur dioxide residues were determined by acid-base titration method. Then the correlations between sulfur dioxide residues and sulfur-containing derivatives in sulfur-fumigated CR samples with different sulfur-fumigation and heat treatment extents were analyzed.

Result:

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Atractylenolide Ⅱ and atractylenolide Ⅲ sulfur-containing derivatives were identified as major characteristic markers of sulfur fumigated CR. With the increase of sulfur-fumigation time

the content of sulfur dioxide residues was continuously increased

while the content of sulfur-containing derivatives was elevated at the beginning and then reached to a plateau

so there was not necessarily a positive correlation between sulfur dioxide residue and the amount of sulfur derivatives. With the increase of heat-treated time

the content of sulfur dioxide residues was continuously decreased

while the content of sulfur-containing derivatives was decreased first and remained at a high level later. There was no clear correlation between sulfur dioxide residue and sulfur-containing derivatives in different sulfur-fumigated and heat-treating de-sulfur degrees of CR.

Conclusion:

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Heat-treatment could decrease the content of sulfur dioxide residue

but the content of sulfur-containing derivatives still remained at a high level

so heat treatment could not reinstate the inner quality of sulfur-fumigated CR to its non-fumigated ones. Therefore

heat-treating de-sulfur is not a feasible method for the quality assurance of sulfur-fumigated CR.