Autori: TUNDE JURCA, ELEONORA MARIAN , LAURA VICAS, DANIELA GATEA

Editorial: Revista de Chimie, 62(12), p.1154-1156, 2011.

Rezumat:

The determination of macro and trace elements in Hypericum perforatum leaves and flowers was carried
out by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) [1,2]. Samples of fourteen
populations were collected from the wild flora of Bihor county. Plants taken from areas in Romania with
different geographical features (mountains, lowlands, and wildwoods) are more or less exposed to pollution
sources in this part of the country (waste disposal, transport, urban development). A digestion method with
an acid mixture (including HNO3, and H2O2) was used to destroy the organic material. Microwave-assisted
digestion has the advantages of reduced time for sample dissolution, fewer possibilities for technical errors
caused by spilling of hot digestion solutions, use of less chemicals, and reduced losses of volatile metals
[3,4]. Metal contents in the investigated samples have extremely different levels: potassium, barium,
manganese, iron and zinc are present in larges quantities in solid samples; the content in toxic elements
varies, however it is under the limit admitted for medicinal plants. The medicinal plants investigated in this
paper contain Zn (40.0 – 96.0 mg/kg), Mn (31 – 219 mg/kg), Fe (83 – 288 mg/kg), Ba (0.5 – 15.7 mg/kg) and
K (7692 – 14534 mg/kg). Based on the results obtained in this paper, we concluded that the current techniques
are adequate for the routine determination of heavy metals concentration in phytopharmaceuticals.

Cuvinte cheie: Hypericum perforatum, ICP-OES, microwave digestion, metals