Data Fusion of ion Mobility Spectrometry Combined with Hierarchical Clustering Analysis for the Quality Assessment of Apple Essence

A fingerprinting approach was developed by means of high-performance ion mobility spectrometry with direct electrospray ionization (ESI-HPIMS) for the quality consistency and authentication of apple essence which contain many analytes. Thirty-four apple essence samples of the same brand and commercialized as a same product but brewed in four different manufacturers were used to establish the fingerprints. Hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) was performed to evaluate the similarity and variation of these samples. A combined data matrix was constructed with the use of individual data matrix of ion mobility spectrum in positive and negative ion modes. For comparison, ion mobility spectrum fingerprints in positive and negative ion modes respectively were also applied to the quality assessment of the same samples. Finally, our study demonstrated that the fusion of fingerprints did indeed provide more information and could be used to comprehensively conduct the quality consistency evaluation and discrimination of apple essences from similar products. It is suggested that this fingerprint approach is suitable for analysis of other complex, multianalyte substances.