Caracterização fitoquímica dos compostos orgânicos da espécie vegetal Maytenus ilicifolia Mart. ex Reissek por espectroscopia no infravermelho com Transformada de Fourier e espectroscopia fotoacústica

Abstract

Maytenus ilicifolia Mart. ex Reissek, popularly known as "espinheira-santa" or holythorn, is part of the Celastraceae family. This plant is used for medicinal purposes due to its secondary metabolites, including terpenes, tannins, phenolic acids and flavonoids. Species similar to the holythorn are used as adulterants, as is the case of Citronella gongonha. Due to the pharmacological interest, the objective of this study was to characterize the plant species Maytenus ilicifolia through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and photoacoustic spectroscopy. An adulterant sample of Citronella gongonha was used for comparative purposes. Six of the samples were acquired commercially and seven were collected in different places of the Campos Gerais region, including the adulterant, after which the leaves were dehydrated and transformed into powder to be analyzed. The physical-chemical analysis was performed on the powder samples by determining total ashes and the humidity of the true holythorn samples. Total tannins were also determined. The spectroscopic evaluation was done through Fourier transform infrared. Ten measurements were taken in each sample with seven-day intervals between them. The spectra were used to determine the main components. The samples were also evaluated by photoacoustic spectroscopy. The analysis of the main components allowed for the discriminati holythorn on between the collected and commercial samples according to different quantities of the chemical compounds. The use of the photoacoustic spectroscopy resulted in absorption bands centered at 280, 350, 440 and 560 nm for the collected samples. These bands presented higher spectral resolution. In the commercial samples, a widening of these bands occurs, revealing a differentiation between the two sets. In the end, all the methodologies used were able to identify characteristics of the samples, enabling their differentiation and revealing themselves to be precise alternative tools, with a thorough preparation and appropriate cost-benefit analysis not being necessary in the quality control of Maytenus ilicifolia.