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Abstract

Analytical difficulties involved in the detection of a wide range of suspected polar and nonpolar drugs in botanical matrices have been solved by adopting a multipronged approach. Preliminary screening of Chinese herbal medications can be accomplished by a combination of thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and/or the employment of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry as a probe introduction technique.

A capsule review of recent studies on the application of mass spectrometry in the analysis of Chinese medicinal herbs

“…Reports on the applications of mass spectrometry in Chinese medicinal analysis have been increasing rapidly in recent years. Different ionization methods for these mass spectrometric analyses have been published, including electron ionization (EI),1–17 field desorption (FD) ionization,18, 19 252 Cf‐plasma desorption,20 fast atom bombardment (FAB),21–25 matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI),26, 27 thermospray28 and electrospray ionization (ESI) 29–44. Mass spectrometry, coupled with chromatographic separations such as gas chromatography (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography (LC/MS), is used for direct analysis of components existing in traditional Chinese medicines.…”

“…GC/MS has been demonstrated to be a valuable analytical technique for the analysis of non‐polar components and volatile essential oils extracted from Chinese herbal plants 2–17. Chen et al in 1987 described a method using direct vaporization GC/MS to determine approximately 130 volatile constituents in several Chinese medicinal herbs 2.…”

“…The direct vaporization results were found to agree well with those obtained by traditional steam distillation extraction methods. Cairns et al demonstrated that preliminary screening of Chinese herbal medications can be accomplished by a combination of TLC and GC/MS 3. GC/MS was applied to analyze fatty acids and lipids in Chinese medicinal seed oils by Jie and co‐workers 4, 5.…”

Entanglements in legal history: conceptual approaches

“…Europe, so the widely read European Legal History (Europäische Rechtsgeschichte) by German legal historian Hans Hattenhauer states, is "not a geographic, but a historically evolved concept." 6 The lack of a conceptual framework for 'European' legal history is rarely expressed as openly as by Uwe Wesel: "Europe is a geographic space with cultural and political specificity. As regards geography, we can for the time being start with the present", he writes laconically in his History of Law in Europe (Geschichte des Rechts in Europa).…”

“…The globalization of law, and of legal thought, is not a new phenomenon. 6 Thus, Legal History should be able to make a contribution to the growing reflection on how different normative orders emerge, interact, develop.…”