ISHS Acta Horticulturae 720: IV International Conference on Quality and Safety Issues Related to Botanicals
CARBON ISOTOPE COMPOSITION AS A TOOL FOR QUALITY CONTROL OF HERBS, SPICES AND MEDICINAL PLANTS |
| Authors: | J.A. Marchese, L.C. Ming, C. Ducatti, E.T. da Silva |
| Keywords: | botanicals, C3 and C4 plants, isotope discrimination, photosynthesis. |
| 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 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.
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