Analisis Kemometrik terhadap Sidik Jari Kromatografi Lapis Tipis dan Aktivitas Antioksidan Ekstrak n-heksana Piperaceae (Piper betle, Piper crocatum, Peperomia pellucida)

Abstract

The use of medicinal plants is increasing as knowledge about bioactive compounds, such as those found in betel
plants. Differences between species in the same family (Piper betle L., Piper crocatum Ruiz & Pav, and
Peperomia pellucida (L.) Kunth) require identification to avoid herbal medicine counterfeiting. The
metabolomic approach in this study, based on untargeted compounds, uses thin-layer chromatography to
determine the metabolite profiles of the three betel species. The TLC results were visualized using the ImageJ
application to obtain quantitative data. Data processing was continued using chemometric methods with PCA
to group species and OPLS-DA to identify Rf values that might have antioxidant potential. The PCA results, with
two main components totaling 94%, successfully grouped the three species of the family Piperaceae, indicating
differences in their respective metabolite profiles. The OPLS-DA results effectively separated the samples based
on antioxidant activity into two categories strong (Piper betle L.) and weak (Piper crocatum Ruiz & Pav and
Peperomia pellucida (L.) Kunth), with Rf values of 7, 9, and 14 as the main contributors. Rf 9 was selected for
further analysis using FTIR because it has the best VIP and p-value. These findings support the importance of
a metabolomic approach for quality control and authentication of medicinal raw materials.

Keywords: betel leaf, thin layer chromatography, antioxidant, PCA, OPLS-DA