Ethnopharmacology is a new interdisciplinary science that appeared in Europe of the ‘90, in France, as a necessity claimed by the return to the traditional remedies of each nation. The aim of this study is to identify and quantify the active ingredients of the species Viscum album and Allium sativum, in order to provide a complex chemical characterisation, which is necessary for the use of these plants’ extracts as natural ingredients in the pharmaceutical industry. The following methods were used: (1) the plant material was harvested from the west-side of Romania (Europe) in July 2014; (2) it was dried quickly and the main active principles were extracted using ethylic alcohol solution (50%); (3) the quantitative analyses of the flavonoids and polyphenols were performed according to a procedure described in the Romanian Pharmacopoeia. FT-IR results showed that the Viscum album extract had the highest content of polyphenolic compounds, for both flavonoids and polyphenols. This is the reason why it can be concluded that alcoholic extracts of mistletoe must be used as supplements for diabetics who require diets with flavonoids or for patients with cancers, degenerative diseases, and particularly cardiovascular diseases, who need an increased amount of polyphenols.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/icpj.v4i5.22861 International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, April 2015, 4(5): 382-385

A new technique for the analysis of volatile aromatic hydrocarbons by combining liquid-liquid microextraction with solid phase microextraction has been developed. The analytes were extracted from aqueous samples by an immobilized polydimethylsiloxane fiber assisted by the droplets of an appropriate organic solvent. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-xylene were used as target analytes. The main factors potentially affecting the microextraction such as the nature and the volume of organic solvent, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) swelling, extraction time, agitation, temperature, and salts were optimized. The method requires a very low consumption of organic solvent. The relative enrichment factor is in the range of 7.1-32.4 for extraction in the presence of dichloromethane at an optimum volume of 18 μL mL(-1) of aqueous sample. This enhancement over regular polydimethylsiloxane fiber is primarily the result of the fiber swelling and of a stable thin layer of organic solvent attached to the surface of the PDMS fiber. The limit of detection ranges from 0.02 to 0.65 ng mL(-1) for the target compounds using a 7-μm bonded polydimethylsiloxane coating and a flame ionization detector. The validity of this method is demonstrated by the analysis of a real waste water sample.

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For the first time, we assessed the performance of liquid phase microextraction (LPME) with droplets of organic solvent that assists solid phase microextraction (SPME) with chemically bonded polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fiber for analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of trace amounts of polar compounds in water. Clopyralid was used as a target analyte. LPME with droplets was performed with dichloromethane and was compared with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) by addition of acetone or methanol as disperser solvent to dichloromethane. The main factors potentially affecting the microextraction were optimized. The optimal volume of dichloromethane was 17 mL per mL of aqueous samples. The relative enrichment factor for LPME in the presence of dichloromethane droplets was 200 and decreased by addition of disperser solvent. Consequently, DLLME cannot be applied with this SPME fiber. A characteristic of the method is that LPME and SPME can be conducted simultaneously or in two steps in the same vial. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification were 0.02 mg L À1 and 0.07 mg L À1 , respectively for 7 mm chemically bonded PDMS fiber and mass spectrometric detection was also carried out.