Articles
CARBON ISOTOPE COMPOSITION AS A TOOL FOR QUALITY CONTROL OF HERBS, SPICES AND MEDICINAL PLANTS
Article number
720_18
Pages
185 – 188
Language
English
Abstract
Isotope screening is a simple and cheap test for determining the photosynthetic pathway used by plants.
The scope of this work was to classify the photosynthetic type of Melissa officinalis L. and Cymbopogon citratus [DC.] Stapf. through studies of the carbon isotope composition (
13C), and we are proposing the use of carbon isotope composition results as a tool to control the quality of medicinal plants.
For studies of13C (13C% = [R (sample)/R (standard) 1] x 10-3), dried, powdered leaves were analyzed in a mass spectrometer coupled with an elemental analyzer for determining the ratio R (R = 13CO2/12CO2). As results, M. officinalis presented a C3 photosynthetic type, and C. citratus presented a C4 photosynthetic type.
The carbon isotope composition from this study can be used as quality control of M. officinalis adulterants.
The scope of this work was to classify the photosynthetic type of Melissa officinalis L. and Cymbopogon citratus [DC.] Stapf. through studies of the carbon isotope composition (
13C), and we are proposing the use of carbon isotope composition results as a tool to control the quality of medicinal plants.For studies of
13C (13C% = [R (sample)/R (standard) 1] x 10-3), dried, powdered leaves were analyzed in a mass spectrometer coupled with an elemental analyzer for determining the ratio R (R = 13CO2/12CO2). As results, M. officinalis presented a C3 photosynthetic type, and C. citratus presented a C4 photosynthetic type.The carbon isotope composition from this study can be used as quality control of M. officinalis adulterants.
Authors
J.A. Marchese, L.C. Ming, C. Ducatti, E.T. da Silva
Keywords
botanicals, C3 and C4 plants, isotope discrimination, photosynthesis.
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