The metabolomic profiles of four major species of cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, C. burmannii, C. loureiroi, and C. cassia) were investigated by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC–HRMS). Thirty-six metabolites were tentatively characterized, belonging to various compound groups such as phenolic glycosides, flavan-3-ols, phenolic acids, terpenes, alkaloids, and aldehydes. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) on the HRMS data matrix resulted in a clear separation of the four cinnamon species. Coumarin, cinnamaldehyde, methoxycinnamaldehyde, cinnamoyl-methoxyphenyl acetate, proanthocyanidins, and other components varied among the four species. Such variations were used to develop a step-by-step strategy for differentiating the four cinnamon species based on their levels of pre-selected components. This study suggests a significant variation in the phytochemical compositions of different cinnamon species, which have a direct influence on cinnamon’s health benefit potentials.

四种主要肉桂（Cinnamomum verum , C. burmannii , C. loureiroi和C. cassia ）的代谢组学特征) 通过超高效液相色谱-高分辨率质谱 (UHPLC-HRMS) 进行研究。初步表征了 36 种代谢物，属于各种化合物组，如酚苷、黄烷-3-醇、酚酸、萜烯、生物碱和醛。HRMS 数据矩阵上的主成分分析 (PCA) 和偏最小二乘判别分析 (PLS-DA) 导致四种肉桂物种的清晰分离。香豆素、肉桂醛、甲氧基肉桂醛、肉桂酰-甲氧基苯乙酸酯、原花青素和其他成分在四个物种中各不相同。这些变化被用来开发一种分步策略，根据预选成分的水平来区分四种肉桂。