Matricaria chamomilla L. or German chamomile is an annual plant of the composite family Asteraceae. In this study, M. chamomilla L. were collected from Neyshabur, Iran. Chemical constituent of essential oils of M. chamomilla L. were determined. Aerial parts (200 gr) were subjected to hydrodistillation in a Clevenger-type apparatus until there was no significant increase in the volume of the oil collected (2.5 h). The yield of the blue oil was 0.9% (w/w). The essential oil was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Identification of the components was based on GC retention indices computer matching with Wiley GC-MS library, and by comparison of the fragmentation patterns of the mass spectra with those reported in the literature (Adams, 2004). 47 components were identified constituting more than 83.1% of the oil. p-Cymene-8-ol(0.7%), Azulene(0.4%), p-Cymene (1.1%), 1,8-Cineole (2.1%), Artemisia Alcohol (0.2%), β-Elemene (0.9%), cis-β-farnesene (0.9%), trans-β-farnesene (5.2%), Borneol (0.8%), γ-Cadinene (0.4%), Spathulenol (9.4%), γ-Eudesmol (1.5%), α-Bisabolol oxide B(7.0%), α-Bisabolol oxide A (21.5%), α-Bisabolol (5.0%), Chamazulene (4.2%) and Germacrene D (0.8%) were major components in M. chamomilla L. oil. The oil was tested against seven strains of bacteria (Gram-positive and Gramnegative). The oil showed mild to significant antimicrobial activity associated mainly with Gram-positive and Gram-Negative bacteria.

No abstract

No abstract

Tetracycline is one of the most widely used antibiotics that causes contamination of aqueous environments and has raised serious concern during the past few years. In this work, adsorption of tetracycline on a modified zeolite was studied through a batch system. Synthetic zeolite 13X was modified using Fe(III). The results show that the removal efficiency of tetracycline by modified zeolite has considerably increased. Different experiments were carried out in order to analyze the effect of parameters such as pH, initial concentration of tetracycline, time, etc. The results indicate that tetracycline adsorption on the zeolite strongly depends on the pH of the solution due to amphoteric functional groups of tetracycline and maximum adsorption capacity of tetracycline by modified zeolite with a pH of approximately 6. The Langmuir isotherm shows good agreement with the experimental data suggesting monolayer adsorption. Maximum adsorption capacity of the modified zeolite reached at the experiments is almost 200 mg/g. XRD, XRF and FTIR results confirm the existence of the Fe phase in the zeolite texture. Amide groups of TC were responsible for the complexation with Fe 3+. Also, tetracycline removal was studied in a continuous column to simulate an industrial waste water process.