Determination of major, minor and trace elements in Glyceric Macerates and Mother Tinctures and in the starting plant materials

Abstract

Glyceric Macerates (GMs) and Mother Tinctures (MTs) are liquid preparations obtained from plant buds (for GMs) and flowers, leaves or roots (for MT) by extraction with a mixture of solvents. Their quality depends on the quality of the plant materials and on the preparation procedures. In this work we determined the concentrations of major, minor and trace elements in buds, flowers and other plant components and in the GMs and MTs obtained from them by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) after microwave mineralization. To the best of our knowledge, this procedure has been applied for the first time here to the analysis of buds. We have taken into account spectral interferences and other causes of errors. Analogies and differences with regard to the method reported by European Pharmacopoeia for heavy metal determination in herbal drugs have been highlighted. The experimental results have been interpreted with chemometric techniques. No significant contamination was detected during the manufacturing step. Element concentrations in GMs and MTs, taking into account their daily dosages, are lower than acceptable intake levels.

Keywords: Buds; Glyceric Macerates; Metals; Mother Tinctures; Plants.