Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of volatile compounds from Houttuynia cordata Thunb after extraction by solid-phase microextraction, flash evaporation and steam distillation Original Research Article

Various sampling techniques including flash evaporation (FE), headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and steam distillation (SD) were compared for the gas chromatography–mass spectrometry of volatile constituents present in Houttuynia cordata Thunb (HCT). 2-Undecanone (22.21%) and houttuynum (7.23%) were predominant components of HCT samples obtained by HS-SPME whereas those levels were 3.95 and 3.60% in the same samples by FE and 25.93 and 6.60% in those by SD, respectively. SPME with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fibre was more selective and particularly efficient for the isolation of biologically active compounds and afforded a higher yield of total compounds than FE and SD. A total of 60 compounds were detected in SPME extracts. While in FE and SD extracts, the detected compounds were 41 and 51, respectively. The total amount of compounds isolated by SPME was much larger than that isolated by FE or SD. Some minor constituents were isolated by SPME, but not by SD and FE. This carries great significance because of the importance of the oil volatiles to clinical therapy. HS-SPME is a powerful tool for determining the volatile constitutes present in the TCMs.