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International Journal of Phytomedicine and Phytotherapy

Table 4 Various techniques for herbal drug analysis

From: Plant active products and emerging interventions in water potabilisation: disinfection and multi-drug resistant pathogen treatment

Method

Application

Thin Layer Chromatography

Used in the assessment of herbal drugs, TLC is commonly engaged [138] since it allows rapid analysis with easy sample preparation need. It supplies semi-quantitative and qualitative details and may provide information on quantity and composition of phytochemicals [139].

High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography:

This is usually engaged to study compounds with less polarities. It is commonly used for identification and recognition of counterfeit products and assists in quality control of herbal and health products [140].

Gas Chromatography:

The basis of gas chromatography separation is the redistribution of compounds between a support stationary and gaseous mobile phase material. Gas chromatography is greatly in use to separate and identify volatile phytochemicals in plant materials [141].

Super Critical Fluid Chromatography

This technique combines the features of gas and liquid chromatography. It handles processing of compounds that cannot be easily determined by conventional gas and liquid chromatography [142].

Chromatographic Fingerprinting

When similar herbal drugs are developed from similar chemical component but possess different identifiable chemical characteristics, chromatographic fingerprinting can be used to resolve the differences. It uses chromatography profiles obtained from extracts’ chemical components to establish similarities and differences between plant products. The validation and identification of herbal products can be perfectly resolved even when the chemical constituents are difficult to handle in complex situations [143].

DNA Fingerprinting

This is an important tool engaged when phytochemically unresolvable adulterated parts of plant are used in imitation for the genuine products. The availability of intact genomic DNA from plant samples after processing is the key for using DNA fingerprinting to resolve processed drug samples with unresolvable phytochemical similarities [144, 145].