Determination and comparison of agarwood from different origins by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Agarwood, a species of resinous heartwood, is a precious medicinal plant and a type of rare natural spice, which is widely used in medicine, cosmetics, religious activities, and other fields. In this study, agarwood samples from eight different regions across four countries were analyzed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A total of 232 species were identified (the match factors of these compounds were above 750). The main compounds of agarwood are oxygenated sesquiterpenes and chromones. The compositions of India1 and Malaysia2 were significantly different from those of other samples, which might be attributed to the different production processes of agarwood. For further investigation, factor analysis was conducted for six agarwood samples. The results showed that the data classification possessed a regional characteristic; according to the retention time and relative content, characteristic compositions were determined by factor scores. Finally, the differences of characteristic compositions were simply analyzed, and the reasons were speculated.