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Analytical techniques for medicinal and aromatic plants Hans Krüger and Hartwig Schulz* Federal Centre for Breeding Research on Cultivated Plants, Institute of Plant Analysis, Erwin-Baur-Str.27, D-06484 Abstract The analytical techniques that are applied for medicinal and aromatic plants are used particularly for the analysis of secondary substances, minor components in plants that are distributed very inhomogenously. Therefore, the main analytical problems that exist are related to correct sample preparation and separation of the analytes. This article reviews different methods of operation such as wet milling, extraction and distillation, and describes some special micro and headspace techniques. This paper also covers modern chromatographic techniques and special possibilities within the range of the near-infrared, attenuated total reflection mid-infrared and Raman spectroscopy that are used for non-destructive and rapid analysis of medicinal and aromatic plants. Keywords: sample preparation; distillation; extraction; microtechniques; headspace; vibrational spectroscopy Stewart Postharvest Review 2007, 4:4 Published online 01 August 2007 doi: 10.2212/spr.2007.4.4 |