Objective: To establish a gas chromatography fuzzy clustering analytical method for classifying of origin fungi of the Chinese traditional medicine, Hongqu.
Methods: The volatile and nonvolatile components of 7 ordinary species of Monascus including M. aurantiacus Lee, etc. were analyzed by capillary gas chromatog raphy using FID: Inlet temperature 280 degrees C, detector temperature 280 degrees C, temperature program 130 degrees C, 5 min-->10 degrees C.min-1-->200 degrees C, 10 min.
Results: In the peak number and contents of volatile and nonvolatile components of Monascus exist obviously differences through which Monascus can be distinguished easily by the main fingerprint peaks within 20 minutes.
Conclusion: The capillary gas chromatography fuzzy clustering analytical method is useful to the identification of Monascus fungi.