Optimization of the extraction of herbal medical tree

Abstract

Herbal is a tropical plant native to Thailand [1]. The leaves of the herbal  are used by workers because of their stimulating effects like coca or instead of opium. It has been a plant of interest for the past fifty years because of its medicinal properties [1]. The herbal  leaves have traditionally been used to relieve pain and etc [4], [5]. Herbal  leaves contain significant levels of pharmacologically active alkaloids such as mitragynine (MG), speciociliatine (SC), 7-hydroxymitragynine (HMG), paynantheine (P), and speciogynine (SG) [3].  

Obtaining different bioactive compounds from natural herbs and plant materials, several extraction and separation techniques are available. Traditional solvent extraction can be used with different solvents, while ultrasound-assisted extraction can be also applied to reduce the contact time and extraction temperature to gain similar extracts but with higher efficiency. The main goal of the thesis project was to optimize the extraction of ground herbal  leaves using different extraction techniques.

The task was to apply changes to extraction conditions of stirred and ultrasound-assisted extraction techniques to compare crude extract yields and determine the optimum conditions to obtain the extracts in high quantities and with high quality, namely with high mitragynine content.