Abstract: In the present study, we examined the potential of non-targeted metabolomics based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) for the authentication of sea buckthorn oil. Chemometric analysis showed that sea buckthorn oil could be discriminated from other edible oils including sunflower seed oil, rapeseed oil and soybean oil by orthogonal partial least squares-discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA). Furthermore, 14 characteristic marker compounds in the oils were identified by their ion abundance and mass number, including organic acids and alcohols. Out of these compounds, six were found in sea buckthorn oil, three in sunflower seed oil, four in rapeseed oil and one in soybean oil. Our results suggest that non-targeted metabolomics based on UPLC-QTOF-MS has great potential for the rapid identification of adulterated sea buckthorn oil.

Key words: ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry; non-targeted metabolomics; chemometrics; sea buckthorn oil; authentication