Real-time toxicity prediction of Aconitum stewing system using extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Due to numerous obstacles such as complex matrices,real-time monitoring of complex reaction systems(e.g.,medicinal herb stewing system)has always been a challenge though great values for safe and rational use of drugs.Herein,facilitated by the potential ability on the tolerance of complex matrices of extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry,a device was established to realize continuous sampling and real-time quantitative analysis of herb stewing system for the first time.A complete analytical strategy,including data acquisition,data mining,and data evaluation was proposed and implemented with overcoming the usual difficulties in real-time mass spectrometry quantification.The complex Fuzi(the lateral root of Aconitum)-meat stewing systems were real-timely monitored in150 min by qualitative and quantitative analysis of the nine key alkaloids accurately.The results showed that the strategy worked perfectly and the toxicity of the systems were evaluated and predicated accordingly.Stewing with trotters effectively accelerated the detoxification of Fuzi soup and reduced the overall toxicity to 68%,which was recommended to be used practically for treating rheumatic arthritis and enhancing immunity.The established strategy was versatile,simple,and accurate,which would have a wide application prospect in real-time analysis and evaluation of various complex reaction systems.

Non-thermal plasma treatment of Radix aconiti wastewater generated by traditional Chinese medicine processing

The wastewater effluent from Radix aconiti processing, an important step in the production processes of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）, is a type of toxic wastewater and difficult to treat. Plasma oxidation methods have emerged as feasible techniques for effective decomposition of toxic organic pollutants. This study examined the performance of a plasma reactor operated in a dielectric barrier discharge（DBD） to degrade the effluent from R. aconiti processing. The effects of treatment time, discharge voltage, initial pH value and the feeding gas for the reactor on the degradation of this TCM wastewater were investigated. A bacterium bioluminescence assay was adopted in this study to test the toxicity of the TCM wastewater after non-thermal plasma treatment. The degradation ratio of the main toxic component was 87.77% after 60 min treatment with oxygen used as feed gas and it was 99.59% when the initial p H value was 8.0. High discharge voltage and alkaline solution environment were beneficial for improving the degradation ratio. The treatment process was found to be capable of reducing the toxicity of the wastewater to a low level or even render it non-toxic. These experimental results suggested that the DBD plasma method may be a competitive technology for primary decomposition of biologically undegradable toxic organic pollutants in TCM wastewater.