BSc Hons research Project by P G Makoni; supervised by Professor M J Mphahlele

• Extraction, separation and identification of the natural oils found in a tuber used traditionally for medicinal and nutritional (flavouring) purposes.

Introduction and motivation

• Zingiber Officinale• A tuber native to South Asia and has be grown in Africa and the Carribeans (C Chang, 1995).

• It has been used widely as a food additive, in beverages and for medicinal purposes

• Used for treatment of stomach pain, skin cancer and nausea in pregnant mothers (Bartley & Jacobs, 2000)

• It has anti-inflammatory and anti-emetic properties

Introduction• Ginger is also used as a pain reliever for people with certain types of arthritis (N Perez; 2005).

• Used also in treatment of ulcers and prevention of heart attack and stroke(A Ghosh; 2011).

motivation• Most research has been carried on ginger from Asia and North Africa and differences in composition were noted by researchers( A Toure et all, 2007).

• The research sort to investigate the constituents in ginger breed from Southern Africa.

Motivation• Study of constituents can lead to the discovery of new drugs (Sarker et al, 2009); (Craig, 1999) & (WHO, 2008).

Theory & methods used• Solvent extraction used by extracting metabolites using MeOH

• Extracted metabolites partitioned between MeOH and DCM

• Several extractions carried out to obtain maximum yield.

Method• Water added to separate DCM and MeOH

• Two solvents separated using separating funnels.

• Two portions: DCM and MeOH dried using sodium sulphate and the solvents evaporated using rotavapors

Schematic diagram of method

Chromatographic techniques used

• GC-MS with a Wiley NIST library used on DCM portion.

• Gradient elution/solvent programming used for UPLC. ESI employed since it is soft and doesn’t result in much fragmentation. MS detectors with PDA used.

• Peaks identified by comparing retention times with those listed in Wiley NIST library (H Jiang et al, 2005); (J Wiley & sons, 2005); (S Bhargava, 2012).

Results: Spectra obtained

GC-MS: DCM spectra

UPLC-MS spectra

Tables with results

Tables

Structures of metabolites

Structures

Structures

Structures

Concluding remarks

Possible expansion

References• S Bhargava et al. Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 2012, 4(1): 360-364.

• C P Chang et al. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 1995, 48: 13-19.

• J Bartley et al. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2000, 80: 209-215.

• N Perez. Journal of International Federation of Aromatherapists, 2005, 63(1).

References contd• D Sarker et al. Acessed from http://igmaisyal.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/natuiral-products-isoltaion-2nd-ed.pdf

• J Craig. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1999, 70(3).

• A Toure. Journal of Agronomy, 2007, 6(2): 350-355.

• A Ghosh et al. International Journal of Pharma and Bio Sciences, 2011, 2(1).

• H Jiang et al. Rapid communication in mass spectrometry, 2005, 19: 2957-2964.

Acknowledgements• Professor M J Mphahlele• Dr M Mujuru & Dr C Zvinowanda• Dr R M Madakadze• Mr M Chiwakata• Unisa laboratory staff• My family• Ms V Gontshi