Abstract
AbstractConcerns about environmental and health protection in the 21st century have drifted the scientific community in the search of environmental friendly and green chemistry technological approaches. Consequently, natural products as alternative medicines with relatively less side effects are becoming more popular. The use of Chinese herbal medicines with potentials of treating disease had been traced back to its use since five thousand years ago. The use of herbal medicines is spread worldwide, where medicines such as St. John's Wort, Ginseng, Ginkgo etc., are available in western markets. The potential applications of herbal medicines created interest in investigation of active ingredients in herbal medicines. This thesis addresses this issue in two parts. The first part is pertaining to “Preparation and Analysis of Huperzine A (Alzheimer’s Disease drug) by Supercritical Fluid Extraction and Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry”. Huperzine A was extracted from Lycopodium serratum Thunb., using supercritical fluid extraction followed by detection using electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Three different sources for Huperzine A like dietary supplement, concentrated Chinese herb, and Lycopodium serratum Thunb. were investigated. The second part involves the “Analysis of Cinnamaldehyde by off-line Solid Phase Microextraction and Gas Chromatography”. Cimmamaldehyde extracted from different sources like Cinnamomum, concentrated Chinese herbs, plants, essential oil and perfumery was quantified by solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography. The green chemistry approach reduces the use of solvents during sample preparation. Principal component analysis was feasible to differentiate the samples and establish the relationship between samples.