Multidimensional control of the intrinsic quality of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi: A novel integrated strategy based on chemical essence activity for multi-criteria decision-making and discrimination modeling

Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (SBG) serves as a widely used dietary and medicinal ingredient. Intrinsic quality and nutritional variations in SBG are inevitable due to ecological factors and extraction process discrepancies. To evaluate authentic quality differences and guide practical material selection, this study proposes a novel "multi-model integration strategy" focused on chemical activity. Using chemometric approaches, seven key active markers were identified from diverse SBG extract fingerprints. Frontier molecular orbital energy and electronegativity analyses unveiled the chemical basis of their bioactivities. Multi-criteria decision-making models (VIKOR, Entropy weight-TOPSIS, and RSR) collectively revealed that Gansu-originated SBG exhibited superior overall quality compared to Inner Mongolia samples, designating Gansu as the premier quality source. Traditional pharmacological experiments further validated the enhanced quality and activity of Gansu SBG. These modeling methods enable efficient quality assessment for clinical and market applications, addressing the time-consuming limitations of conventional pharmacological assays through mathematical modeling. Finally, discriminant function models were developed to distinguish SBG by origin. This integrated strategy, rooted in characteristic substances' chemical activity, offers insights for quality optimization and traceability of food-herbal products. • Utilizing multidimensional mathematical modeling overcomes the shortcomings of traditional quality screening. • Multi-criteria decision-making assessment system for food and medicinal materials. • Origin and extraction process significantly impact the quality of herbal materials. • Quality and authenticity monitoring has been extended to the origin.