Elemental assessment of the leaf and seed of Rauwolfia serpentina (Sarpagandha) by direct current arc optical emission spectroscopy

Abstract

Rauwolfia serpentina is an important medicinal plant widely used in formulating various drugs and medicines in the pharmacological industries. The efficacy of the medicinal plants mainly depends upon its constituents like nutrients and trace metals that require their detection with sophisticated techniques having cost-effective, fast data acquisition and multi-elemental detection capability. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the elemental profile of the leaf and seed of the Rauwolfia serpentina plant using direct current arc optical emission spectroscopy. The emission spectrum of the powder of the leaves and seeds of the Rauwolfia serpentina has been acquired in the spectral region 300–900 nm at a resolution of 0.3 nm. The spectrum shows the persistent lines of the calcium, potassium, sodium, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, chromium, cadmium, aluminum, titanium, bismuth, mercury, lead, tin, barium, vanadium, silicon and strontium, which confirms the occurrence of these elements in the leaf and seed. Area of the spectral profile evaluated by curve fitting has been used for comparing the content of elements present in leaf and seed of Rauwolfia serpentina. The role of the detected elements has been described with reference to human health.