Discrimination of Botanical Origin of Chan-thet, Chan-hom, Chan-chamot, Chan-khao and Chan-thana Using Chemical Test and Thin-layer Chromatography

Abstract

Objective: To develop the method to discriminate the botanical origin of crude drugs named Chan-thet, Chan-hom, Chan-chamot, Chan-khao and Chan-thana. Methods: Heartwoods of Santalum album, S. spicatum, S. lanceolatum, Tarenna hoaensis, Mansonia gagei, Diospyros decandra and Myristica fragrans which were likely used as above mentioned crude drugs, were examined with various chemical test reactions. Their chemical fingerprints using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) were also studied. Results: Each plant species gave different results on chemical tests and possessed unique TLC chromatograms. Conclusion: Heartwoods of all seven plant species could be discriminated by the reactions with vanillin/sulfuric acid, 10% potassium hydroxide solution and Liebermann-Burchard test. The results were confirmed by their TLC chromatograms developed from hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol (60:30:0.2) and dichloromethane-methanol-formic acid (60:10:1) as mobile phases and detected with vanillin/sulfuric acid spraying reagent. Keywords: Chan-thet, Chan-hom, Chan-chamot, Chan-khao, Chan-thana, chemical test, thin-layer chromatography