A RAPID POLAROGRAPHIC METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF ARTEMISIA

From the polarographic behaviours of satonin and from a study of the extraction of santonin from the plant Artemisia,a procedure for the rapid analysis of the latter was proposed as follows: Weigh out accurately 0.05—0.30 g of Artemisia powder (60 mesh) into a 50 ml Erlenmeyer flask,add 0.1 g Ca(OH)₂ and a little water,mix well.Then add 20ml water and boil for 10 minutes.Filter through a sintered-glass funnel with a bed of 1—2 mm of pulp.Wash the residue three times with 10,5,5 ml of boiling water.Combine the filtrate and washings in a 100 Erlenmeyer flask,add 1 ml conc.HCl,boil for 10 minutes.Cool to room temperature with running water,transfer to a 50 ml separatory funnel,extract with 10,5,5 ml of chloroform.Combine the extracts and blow off the chloroform.Dissolve the residue in 2.5 ml ethanol,add 5 ml pH 10 buffer of boric acid, KCI and NaOH,dilute to 10 ml.Pass nitrogen for 10 minutes and take the polarogram. Measure the current at—1.7 v.vs.S.C.E..Calculate the percentage of santonin in the sample from a calibration curve or from equation given in the text. The validity of this method was checked by the standard addition method.It has also been applied to the analysis of a number of different Artemisia samples,the results are in good agreement with those obtained by the classical gravimetric method. It takes only about one hour and half for the analysis of the plant,faster than any other existing method.