Identification and Characterization of Bauhinia Species by Spectroscopic and Spectrometric Fingerprints

Some species of plants of the genus Bauhinia are medicinal plants with relevant pharmaceutical properties such as diuretic, digestive, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and are popularly used to treat hypertension and diabetes. They are widely known as "cow's foot" ("pata-de-vaca") due to the shape of their leaves; this morphological similarity among species and/or subspecies makes their taxonomic differentiation a challenge. Seeking for an auxiliary tool to discriminate Bauhinia species, spectroscopic and spectrometric fingerprints of extracts of Bauhinia leaves were compared using principal component analysis (PCA). Samples were distinguished according to their type (commercial or non-commercial), geographic origin, and specie. Multivariate data analysis indicated that there are differences between the chemical profile of commercial and non-commercial samples possibly due to the mixture of different species of Bauhinia in commercial samples. Thus, PCA may help to authenticate commercial and non-commercial samples, to trace their origin and indicate taxonomic classification. Additionally, the antiradical activity was statistically higher for non-commercial samples (p<0.05), suggesting that this activity diminishes during shelf storage.