Abstract
Acanthopanax senticosus extract with excessive standard of Pb, Cd, Hg, and Cu was used as the research object, and the alkyl thiourea functionalised silica was used as a new heavy metal removal scavenger. The heavy metal removal process was optimised by orthogonal experiment with dynamic and static adsorption modes. Meanwhile, the content of Acanthopanax B and Acanthopanax E, the solid content, and the HPLC fingerprint similarity were used as quality monitoring indicators of Acanthopanax senticosus heavy metal removal before and after. Then, the technical adaptability of heavy metal removal by alkyl thiourea functionalised silica was evaluated. Under the optimal dynamic adsorption conditions, the average removal rates of Pb, Cd, Hg, and Cu were 91.64%, 93.04%, 81.77%, and 83.11%, respectively. Under the optimal static adsorption conditions, the average removal rates of Pb, Cd, Hg, and Cu were 82.22%, 89.95%, 81.26%, and 82.97%, respectively. During Acanthopanax senticosus extract heavy metal removal before and after, the change percentage of Acanthopanax B and Acanthopanax E was less than 2.00%, the solid content loss rate was only 0.18%, and the fingerprint similarity was over 99.9%. The method can be used to satisfy the high efficiency of selective removal of harmful elements in Acanthopanax senticosus extract and the effective composition of almost no effect; the method is simple and easy, so it can be recommended for pretreatment of heavy metals in Traditional Chinese Medicine extracts, and this way provides a new thought and research technique to decrease the contents of heavy metals.
Highlights
Heavy metals have obvious harmful effects on the body’s metabolism and normal physiological functions
In order to solve the current drug safety and the emergency situation facing export, to overcome the problem of Traditional Chinese Medicine contaminated by harmful elements, it is BioMed Research International necessary to find a rapid, convenient, and suitable method for large-scale removal of harmful elements in Traditional Chinese Medicine [7], to strengthen the development and application of various removal technologies and adsorption materials, and to remove the harmful element units in the production of Traditional Chinese Medicine, such as extraction, to control the harmful metal content of the finished medicine at a reasonable level [8]
This study and the British PhosphonicS Ltd. company jointly carried out the use of alkyl thiourea functionalised silica as a model adsorption material, with Acanthopanax senticosus extract as a heavy metal pollution research object, to investigate the removal effect of Pb, Cd, Hg, and Cu; the content of Acanthopanax B and Acanthopanax E, the solid content, and the HPLC fingerprint similarity were used as quality monitoring indicators of Acanthopanax senticosus heavy metal removal before and after
Summary
Heavy metals have obvious harmful effects on the body’s metabolism and normal physiological functions. Due to the complexity of the form of harmful metals in Traditional Chinese Medicine, such as complexation or embedding with effective active ingredients and background values, traditional methods for removing harmful metals in recent years, such as alcohol precipitation, molecular imprinting, activated carbon adsorption, ion-exchange resin, and superfluid methods, still have many defects such as low yield, weak adsorption, large dosage, high cost, and loss of active ingredients [9, 10] At present, it is only in the experimental research stage and is only reported in the literature, but it still lacks the industrial production mode [11].
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