What do you need to do for the extraction and purification of active ingredients?
Extract the molecules of interest from the plant
separate molecules from each other
determine the structure of each component.
What are the two most common methods of extracting the components from the plant?
solvent extraction and steam distillation
What is solvent distillation?
A separation process that involves a liquid and a solid.
The solid (plant) is placed with the liquid (solvent). the components wanted from the plant transfers to the solvent. e.g steeping tea.
What are some different versions of solvent extraction?
-grinding or blending the leaves to break up the plant structure.
- adjusting the solvent. Water is usually effective on polar molecules, whereas for non-polar molecules non-polar solvents are used. Low-polarities use solvent-blends.
Changing temperature: if the desired extracts are thermally stable, prolonged heating will help.
What is steam distillation?
A boiler is used to produce a flow of steam which is then passed through the leaves. The hot steam breaks down the plant cells and carries the oils with it. then the steam and oils are condensed, since oils are usually non-polar they are easily separated.
what is steam distillation used for?
can be used when the active ingredients are volatile and thermally stable.
