Development, extraction and characterisation procedures for herbal materials including traditional African herbal medicines

Abstract

Natural products continue to represent an important source of therapeutics. The aim of this project is two-fold: (i) to develop methods of extraction and identification (characterization) of active ingredients in novel herbal materials, and optimize these methods on known herbal compounds; (ii) to use these methods to examine a number of herbal materials including those which are currently used in traditional African herbal remedies in the state of Cameroon. The student will develop different methods of extraction and examine these extracts mainly by GLC, HPLC and GC-MS and LC-MS if necessary. AIT can access the facilities to undertake these techniques including the recent acquisition of a new GC-MS (TOF) instrument. It is intended in the future to extend this project to examine the efficacy of these medicines and others and to check the biological activity of the active ingredients and their potential for further development.