The study of the elemental and amino acid composition of Cetraria islandica (L.) Ach. thalli batches harvested in Ukraine

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Aim. To study the elemental and amino acid composition of Cetraria islandica (L.) Ach. thalli batches harvested in Ukraine.Materials and methods. Seven batches of C. islandica thalli harvested in different regions of Ukraine in late summer/early fall 2019 were used for the study. The elemental composition of the raw material was studied by atomic absorption spectrometry with photographic registration. The component composition of free and bound amino acids in the raw material was determined by the HPLC method. Results and discussion. The presence of at least 19 macro-, trace and ultra-trace elements was determined in 7 batches of the raw material. The predominance of the following elements was found: potassium 190 mg/100 g (batch 6) – 325 mg/100 g (batch 7); silicon 30 mg/100 g (batch 1) – 115 mg/100 g (batch 4); calcium 37 mg/100 g (batch 6) – 86 mg/100 g (batch 4). It was determined that the quantitative content of molybdenum and cobalt did not exceed 0.03 mg/100 g, the content of cadmium, astatine and mercury did not exceed 0.01 mg/100 g. The quantitative content of lead met the requirements of the monograph of the State Pharmacopoeia of Ukraine (SPhU) 2.0. The total ash content in the batches of the raw material ranged from 0.61 ± 0.02 % to 1.43 ± 0.05 %, meeting the requirements of the monograph of the SPhU 2.0. The presence of 7 amino acids was determined; 5 of them were nonessential (aspartic and glutamic acids, serine, arginine, and alanine) and 2 were essential (threonine and valine). The quantitative content of the total amount of free amino acids was 0.794 μg mg-1, the total amount of bound ones was 3.276 μg mg-1.Conclusions. For the first time, the elemental composition of 7 batches of C. islandica thalli harvested in Ukraine was determined. In each batch, potassium was the predominant element (from 190 mg/100 g to 325 mg/100 g depending on the batch). The component composition of free and bound nonessential and essential amino acids was determined (the quantitative content of the total amount of free amino acids was 0.794 μg mg-1, the total amount of bound ones was 3.276 μg mg-1); alanine (0.289 μg mg-1) was the dominant component among free amino acids, while arginine (0.993 μg mg-1) prevailed among bound ones. The results obtained will be used for further studies of the raw material of C. islandica harvested in Ukraine.