# Untargeted Metabolomic Profiling of _Fructus Chebulae_ and _Fructus Terminaliae Billericae_
## 1 Introduction  
_Fructus Chebulae_ (FC), commonly known as chebulic myrobalan, is the dried mature fruit of _Terminalia chebula Retz_, a plant of the Combretaceae family [1]. Feverfew is frequently encountered in Yunnan, Guangdong, and Guangxi and is widely utilized in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Tibetan medicine, Ayurveda, and various other traditional healing practices. Known as the king of medicine, traditional plant medicine is widely utilized across the globe [2]. It is not only used for medicinal purposes but it also serves as a healthy food for throat clearing. It is an important raw material in the tanning industry [3]. The FTB is a variant of the FC, mainly distributed in western Yunnan, Myanmar (Pegu, wool cotton to Dian Na Saleng), and other places.  
The 2015 edition of the _Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China_, Volume I, covers various uses of raw and processed FC in traditional Chinese medicine. As stated in _Encountering the Sources of the Classic of Materia Medica_, \"FC is bitter and asringent and decreases converged qi; raw FC clears the lung and stops coughing, while roasted FC protects the intestines and prevents diarrhea\". Traditional medicine and modern pharmacological studies have indicated that FC contains numerous active ingredients including tannic acids, phenolic acids, triterpenes, polysaccharides, and volatile oils. These compounds have been shown to exert diverse pharmacological effects, such as antibacterial, vasoconstritisure, immune-enhancing, antitumor, and free radical-scavenging activities [4, 5].  
The desiccated fruits of _Terminalia chebula_ can be classified as FC and _Fructus Terminaliae Billericae_ (FTB), with distinctions in physical characteristics, effectiveness, and medicinal attributes. The physical characteristics of the young seeds (varieties) and the original varieties include thick copper and flat hairs on young branches and leaves, longer bracts than flowers, a barren calyx, and a glabrous ovary when young. The fruit is ovate and less than2.5 cm long [6]. At present, there are few studies on small hair seeds at home and abroad, and only a few documents focus on the dry mature fruit [7]. FC and FTB contain tannin, phenolic acids, triterpenoids, and flavonoids as their primary chemical constituents, all of which possess pharmacological properties like antioxidant, liver protection, antibacterial, and antitumor effects [8]. The extract and active ingredients mainly protect the liver, kidney, and heart by scavenging free radicals, thereby affecting oxidase activity, antioxidative stress response, and other mechanisms, and play an antioxidant role [9; 10]. It exerts an antibacterial effect by inhibiting bacterial cell protease activity, inhibiting cell membrane efflux function, and inhibiting nucleic acid synthesis [11; 12]. It exerts its antitumor effect by affecting the passage of tumor cell apoptosis signal transduction, protein synthesis and function of tumor cells, nucleic acid biosynthesis of tumor cells, and synergistic efficacy with antitumor drugs [13; 14]. At present, the research work on FC mainly focuses on the active ingredients, pharmacological effects, clinical application, and processing of such plants. Few studies have been conducted on FC and FTB; in particular, the analysis of the chemical composition between the two has not been reported. The two differences in the efficacy of the ko and micro may be different. The current research aimed to analyze the variations in the metabolites between FC and FTB through untargeted metabolomics using UPLC-ESI-MS/MS, with the goal of laying a foundation for future studies on FC in traditional Chinese medicine and the chemical industry.