On the feasibility of near-infrared spectroscopy for the identification of Nicotiana species

Jaen, S, Assi, S ORCID: 0000-0002-5142-9179, Al-Jumeily, D ORCID: 0000-0002-9170-0568, Canelos, LV and Leeson, R (2026) On the feasibility of near-infrared spectroscopy for the identification of Nicotiana species. Spectroscopy Letters. ISSN 0038-7010

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Abstract

This study evaluates the feasibility of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for identifying biochemical differences in Nicotiana species (N. spp.) in ceremonial, handcrafted Indigenous smokeless tobacco products from Ecuador and Peru. NIR spectra of three N. spp. Nicotiana tabacum (N. tabacum), Nicotiana glauca (N. glauca), Nicotiana rustica, (N. rustica) and three smokeless tobacco samples (SLT), (Ecuadorian, Peruvian white and Peruvian brown) were collected. For each sample, more than 20 subsamples were taken. Spectra were exported to MATLAB 2024b, where multiplicative scatter correlation and first-derivative was applied prior to spectral analysis. Spectral analysis involved evaluating spectral quality, spectral interpretation, and applying correlation in wavenumber space (CWS) and principal component analysis (PCA). Spectral interpretation showed similar absorption bands in both wet (N. species) and dry (SLT) samples; however, dry samples showed stronger absorbance due to reduced interference from water. Bands corresponding to water showed absorbance around 4716 cm−1 in the wet samples. CWS applied to the NIR spectra showed close correlation between Ecuadorian sample and N. rustica and between Peruvian white and N. glauca. However, Peruvian brown sample did not correlate with any species. PCA showed distinct clusters for each of the N. species and the tobacco samples corresponding to biochemical differences in the samples. This is the first study to investigate the NIR spectral signatures of N. glauca and N. rustica, as previous studies have been limited to N. tabacum. In addition, this work provides the first chemical characterization of handcrafted shamanic tobacco produced by the Achuar Indigenous community in Ecuador and Ashaninkas in Peru. NIR spectral signatures showed key differences in alkaloids, proteins, and moisture bands. However, due to sampling limitations, future work will focus on evaluating the findings of the study with larger sample set.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	<italic>Nicotiana</italic> species; Smokeless tobacco; Near-infrared spectroscopy; Correlation in wavenumber space; Principal component analysis; 3108 Plant Biology; 31 Biological Sciences; 02 Physical Sciences; 03 Chemical Sciences; 06 Biological Sciences; Analytical Chemistry; 31 Biological sciences; 34 Chemical sciences; 51 Physical sciences
Subjects:	R Medicine > RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology S Agriculture > SB Plant culture
Divisions:	Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis
Date of acceptance:	19 April 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	22 July 2026
Date Deposited:	22 Jul 2026 14:56
Last Modified:	22 Jul 2026 14:56
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/00387010.2026.2676027
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29045

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