Needle Trap Device as a New Sampling and Preconcentration Approach for Volatile Organic Compounds of Herbal Medicines and its Application to the Analysis of Volatile Components in Viola tianschanica.
BACKGROUND
The needle trap device (NTD) technique is a new microextraction method for sampling and preconcentration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Previous NTD studies predominantly focused on analysis of environmental volatile compounds in the gaseous and liquid phases. Little work has been done on its potential application in biological samples and no work has been reported on analysis of bioactive compounds in essential oils from herbal medicines.


OBJECTIVE
The main purpose of the present study is to develop a NTD sampling method for profiling VOCs in biological samples using herbal medicines as a case study.


METHODS
A combined method of NTD sample preparation and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed for qualitative analysis of VOCs in Viola tianschanica. A 22-gauge stainless steel, triple-bed needle packed with Tenax, Carbopack X and Carboxen 1000 sorbents was used for analysis of VOCs in the herb. Furthermore, different parameters affecting the extraction efficiency and capacity were studied.


RESULTS
The peak capacity obtained by NTDs was 104, more efficient than those of the static headspace (46) and hydrodistillation (93). This NTD method shows potential to trap a wide range of VOCs including the lower and higher volatile components, while the static headspace and hydrodistillation only detects lower volatile components, and semi-volatile and higher volatile components, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The developed NTD sample preparation method is a more rapid, simpler, convenient, and sensitive extraction/desorption technique for analysis of VOCs in herbal medicines than the conventional methods such as static headspace and hydrodistillation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.|Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, 180 Fenglin Road, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Yan
Y
Qin
PAS Technology Deutschland GmbH, Richard-Wagner-Strasse 10, 99441, Magdala, Germany.
Yingming
Y
Pang
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai, 201203, China. chengzhh@fudan.edu.cn.
Zhihong
Z
Cheng
D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D029001:Herbal Medicine; D009339:Needles; D032413:Viola / Q000737:chemistry*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis*
D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
Hydrodistillation; Viola tianschanica; needle trap; static headspace