Chemical profiling and standardization of the defatted methanol extract of the leaves of Vitex negundo L. were carried out using 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis followed by chemometric analysis of the chemical shift data. Chemical profile was obtained using a k-means cluster profile and chemical standardization which was achieved using a multivariate control chart. The V. negundo samples were made up of four groups: the training set, submitted samples from production farms, commercial samples, such as tablets, capsules and teas, and experimental samples (samples which were allowed to degrade). Four groups were generated in k-means cluster, which generally corresponded to the four types of samples. The multivariate control chart identified samples whose quality exceeded the upper control limit, all of which were commercial samples and experimental samples. The samples were also analyzed by quantitative thin layer chromatography (qTLC) using agnuside as marker compound. Comparison of the qTLC results with the k-means cluster and the multivariate control chart showed poor correspondence. This means that a univariate analysis of a plant sample using a marker compound is useful only for quantification of the target compound. On the other hand, chemical profiling and standardization of medicinal plants should use a multivariate method.

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