Compared with conventional globar source, synchrotron source has several advantages such as much higher signal-to-noise and brightness. Synchrotron FTIR microspectroscopy can probe small regions and obtain high quality spectra, which can help researchers know traditionl Chinese medicine further. In this paper, synchrotron FTIR microspectroscopy was used to investigate cryosection of Cortex Eucommiae from Hubei Province and a series of IR micro-spectra were obtained. Chemical images of cryosection were also obtained to know distributions of different chemicals in Cortex Eucommiae. The present research shows that synchrotron FTIR microspectroscopy is an useful tool to study Cortex Eucommiae and can be used to study the other traditional Chinese medicines.

Key words: synchrotron FTIR microspectroscopy, Cortex Eucommiae, cryosection, chemical image