Extraction of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs)

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the techniques, equipment, and terminology used in the extraction of medicinal and aromatic plants as described in the lecture notes.

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs)

Plants whose extraction involves techniques like maceration, percolation, and infusion to isolate pure molecules and standardized extracts for therapeutic purposes.

Menstruum

A selective solvent used in extraction procedures for crude drugs to obtain the therapeutically desirable portion and eliminate the inert material.

Marc

The solid residue or exhausted drug remaining after the extraction process is completed and the liquid has been strained or expressed.

Maceration

A steady-state extraction process where plant material is placed in a closed vessel with the whole of the menstruum and allowed to stand, typically for seven days with occasional shaking.

Organized Drugs

Drugs such as barks and roots where the maceration process requires pressing the marc at the end of the extraction due to adherent liquid.

Unorganized Drugs

Drugs such as gum-resins where the maceration process typically omits pressing the marc as it is neither practicable nor necessary.

Double Maceration

A modification of the general maceration process used for concentrated infusions containing volatile oil, such as Concentrated Compound Gentian Infusion.

Circulatory Extraction

A modified maceration process where solvent is continuously circulated from the bottom of the vessel to spray nozzles over the surface of the drug to improve efficiency.

Multiple Stage Extraction

An extraction method using a vessel for the drug and multiple receiving tanks to treat each batch of drug several times with solvent to overcome equilibrium limits.

Extraction Battery

A series of interconnected vessels with pipework arranged so that solvent can be added to and product taken from any vessel in a semi-continuous sequence.

Percolation

An exhaustive extraction process involving the passage of a menstruum through a column of powdered drug to remove its soluble constituents.

Imbibition

The stage in the percolation process where powdered vegetable drugs are uniformly moistened with menstruum for a period, typically 4 hours, in a separate vessel before packing.

Reserved Percolation

A modified percolation technique where the extraction is performed generally, but the final dilute percolate is evaporated to a soft extract and then dissolved in the reserved alcoholic portion.

Cover and Run Down Method

An extraction process combining maceration and percolation techniques, often utilized with industrial methylated spirit to reduce costs.

Soxhlet Apparatus

A laboratory-scale apparatus for continuous hot extraction consisting of a flask, a soxhlet extractor with a syphon tube, and a reflux condenser.

Infusion

Dilute solutions containing the readily-soluble constituents of crude drugs, typically prepared by macerating the drug for a short period in cold or boiling water.

Concentrated Infusions

Preparations where $25\%$ alcohol is added during or after the infusion process to maintain the potency and aroma of the drug.

Thermo-labile

A characteristic of plant constituents that are sensitive to heat and may be damaged if evaporation temperatures exceed specific thresholds like $55^{\circ}C$.

Vacuum Evaporation

A state-of-the-art technique for concentrating extracts that uses cautious vacuum conditions with temperatures not exceeding $55^{\circ}C$ for thermo-labile constituents.

Nux Vomica

An example of a hard and tough drug that requires the use of percolation for effective extraction.

Benzoin

An example of an unorganized drug that is typically extracted using the maceration process.

Senna Fruits

A soft plant material where the knowledge of pharmacognosy suggests using maceration to avoid the need for powdering.