Rapid and simultaneous quality analysis of the three active components in Lonicerae Japonicae Flos by near-infrared spectroscopy

[Display omitted] •Three components of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos were fast analyzed by the NIRS method.•The NIRS method was compared by 2 different multivariate strategies (PLS and ANN).•Five processing methods were compared to select the optimum drying method.•Two kinds of harvest time was evaluated to get a suitable collection time.•The differences of 2 species and 8 geographical origins were analyzed. Lonicerae Japonicae Flos (LJF) has historically been widely utilized as a tea and health food. To better understand and evaluate its quality evaluate its quality, a near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) method was developed for the rapid and simultaneous analysis of the 3 main active components (chlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acid A and isochlorogenic acid C). The NIRS model was built using 2 different strategies: partial least squares (PLS) as a linear regression method and artificial neural networks (ANN) as a nonlinear regression method. Furthermore, the NIRS method was applied to analyze the 4 main quality factors, which included 5 processing methods (shade drying, sun drying, vacuum drying, freeze drying and hot-air drying), 2 kinds of harvest time (flower bud stage and florescence stage), 2 species and 8 geographical origins. Collectively, NIRS is a promising method for the quality analysis of LJF.