Comprehensive Identification of Chemical Fingerprint and Screening of Potential Quality Markers of Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f. from Different Geographical Origins via Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Hyphenated with Quadrupole–Orbitrap-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry Combined with Chemometrics

The article focuses on developing a comprehensive chemical fingerprinting and chemometric analysis strategy for quality assessment of Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f. from different geographical origins in China. Using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with quadrupole–orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (Q–Orbitrap–HRMS), 32 common chemical peaks were identified across 20 batches from four provinces, and chemometric methods—including hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA), and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA)—classified samples into four geographic clusters. Five compounds—aloesin, aloin A, aloin B, aloeresin D, and 7-O-methylaloeresin A—were identified as potential quality markers, with their contents varying significantly by region, suggesting geographical origin influences Aloe vera quality. The study establishes an efficient analytical approach for screening quality markers and supports the formulation of quality standards for Aloe vera and its preparations.