Download Case Study Extraction of potential drug substances Customer: Paris Pharmacology University, France

Case Study
Extraction of potential drug substances
Customer: Paris Pharmacology University, France
The Paris Pharmacology University qualifies students to work as pharmacists. The university
has a research department working on natural products and drugs from natural products. Research results are published in international scientific journals.
Application: Extraction of drug substances in natural products
The extraction of drugs from natural products is more and more common in connection with
drug research for human health care. In earlier times, indigenous peoples used plants for
health care. Nowadays, scientists study plants to search for specific compounds for health
care. Leaves, roots, and stems can be used, and compounds are sometimes only available in
a very low concentration. The extractor enables to extract a large sample volume to reach the
sometimes very low level of quantification. After the extraction process, the plants are analyzed
in CG, LC/MS.
Equipment: SpeedExtractor E-914
The laboratory was not equipped with an extractor before. Maceration and decoction were
used to extract plants. Due to an increase of the analysis volume, the need to be more efficient
in extraction, and the will to have less sample manipulation because of toxic substances, an
extractor had to be found enabling to analyze more samples in a shorter time and in a safer
way. Due to the sample volume and preparation the E-914 with 120ml cells was the instrument
of choice. The cell size enables to use large sample volumes to reach the sometimes very low
level of quantification.
Benefit / Conclusion: Time saving, increased security and recovery
“The use of the BUCHI SpeedExtractor for the extraction of drugs from toxic plants increased
the recovery rate and decreased risks associated with the handling of toxic plants.”
AC-097-12/11
As the laboratory extracts from toxic plants, the ’’waste’’ is used as an extract collector. This
enables to use 4 times the same sample and to have only one extract to manipulate. The key
benefit is the time saving during extraction. Apart from that, the pressurized solvent extraction
allows to find much more potential drug substance in plants compared to maceration.