Determination of essential oil, mineral and trace elements in some public drugs using for the common cold

Spices and herbs are the rich storehouses of different bioactive compounds and are well known for their benefical effects on health.Traditional herbs (medicinal plants) are being used in oriental medicine for the treatment of ailments ranging from the common cold to cancer.Traditional herbs contain organic contents (compounds), essential oils, glycosides, vitamins, alkaloids and other active components. Besides several organic compounds and essential oils, it is now well established that many trace elements play a vital role in general well-being as well as in the cure of diseases.The aim of this study was to determine components of essential oils and trace elements in some plants which using for common cold treatments.Aerial parts of the air dried plant material were subjected to hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus. The resulting oils were analyzed using GC/FID and GC/MS methods.Volatile compounds were identified based on the agreement of retention indices and mass spectra of the studied components. Alkanes were used as reference points in the calculation of relative retention indices (RRI). Library search was carried out using the Wiley GC/MS Library, Adams Library and NIST05.The determinations of selected trace elements were performed using a flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry technique (Cu, Mn, Zn, Fe, Al, K, Mg, Ca were determined by F-AAS, Pb, Ni, Cd, Se were determined by GF-AAS) after dry-ashing, wet-ashing and microwave digestion procedures.Key Words: Traditional Plants, Essential Oil, Gas Chromatography, Trace Elements, Atomic Absorption Spectrometry.