Mohammad Reza Naghavi
University of Tehran, Iran
Title: Application of nano-particles in purification of pharmaceutical metabolites from plants
Biography
Biography: Mohammad Reza Naghavi
Abstract
Pharmaceutical plant-derived metabolites such as Paclitaxel (Taxol), artemisinin, morphine, codeine, thebaine, etc are valuable plant-derived drugs showing activity against various human and animal diseases. Accordingly, the development of a more effective process for separation and purification of plant-derived metabolites is an important subject. Today, nano-structured materials are used in various fields including separation of materials in nanometer dimensions for water purification and chemical, food and pharmaceutical industry. The present research attempted to develop a new purification method using nano-particles, for mass production of plant-derived metabolites. The proficiency of a number of magnetic carbon-based nano-adsorbents was evaluated in pre-purification process of the crude paclitaxel extract obtained from fresh needles of yew tree (Taxus baccata L.). By considering decolorization efficiency, purity of taxol, recovery and reusability of adsorbents, Fe3O4Nps/GO (50 g/L) in dichloromethane was selected as the best medium for re-purification of paclitaxel. Our findings displayed promising applications of Fe3O4Nps/GO, as a cost effective nano-adsorbent, to provide a suitable vehicle toward improvement of paclitaxel pre-purification. This method was developed aiming at increasing yield and purity, also reducing solvent usage and the size and complexity of the HPLC operations for purification of metabolites.