Chemical composition of Leonurus quinquelobatus in Western Siberia

Abstract

The chemical composition of plants should be studied in order to understand the role of environmental factors in accumulation of various chemical elements by them, as well as to make a better sense of the specifics of potential resource plants. The safety of the content and accumulation of chemical elements in the phytomass of Leonurus quinquelobatus Gilib. under different environmental conditions in the south of Western Siberia has been assessed. The concentrations of chemical elements have been studied using the ashes of plants grown from genetically homogeneous seeds in the following three regions of the south of Western Siberia: Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, and the Altai Republic (Kamlak). The content of chemical elements in the ash of L. quinquelobatus has been determined by the atomic-emission method using a double-jet argon arc plasmatron and a multichannel analyzer of emission spectra. The content of chemical elements in the extracts has been determined by the atomic absorption method. The concentrations of As and Hg have been found according to the State Standard R 51766-2001 and R 53183-2008, respectively. Statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences in the content of chemical elements contained by the L. quinquelobatus phytomass from different geographical locations in Western Siberia have been revealed for Cu, Ga, Fe, K, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Si, Sn, Sr, Ti, V, Y, Yb, Zn, and Zr. It has been shown that the concentrations of As and Hg are below the detection limit. The phytomass of the samples from the Altai Republic has the highest K and Cu content. The contents of Mn and Na are highest in the samples from the Kemerovo region with other chemical elements showing highest levels in plants from the Novosibirsk region. The revealed content of the available forms of chemical elements in plants suggests that the high total concentration of some chemical elements in plants sampled from the Novosibirsk region is most likely due to dust accumulation, because some chemical elements have been shown to be contained in solid soil particles on the plant surface, rather than inside the plant phytomass. The coefficients of biological uptake and biogeochemical mobility vary to a significant degree. The overall total and insoluble (in 10% HCl) ash content and the content of chemical elements in the L. quinquelobatus plants have been found to comply with the regulation requirements for medicinal plants. The accumulation of cation-forming elements prevails in plants of this species. The accumulation of Cr, Pb, Co, Zn, and B in the L. quinquelobatus phytomass has been found to be below average values.

Keywords

• leonurus quinquelobatus gilib.
• potentially toxic elements
• heavy metals
• raw material for herbal medicines
• environmental assessment