Study of the elemental composition of a series of virland fruits Viburnum Opulus L.
Authors: Леонтієв Б. С. , Хворост О. П. 
Published: November 2023

Viburnum fruits are a well-known and popular means of folk and scientific medicine. It is used as a vitamin, immunostimulating, diuretic, hypotensive agent. There is information about the use of viburnum fruit processing products in the food industry. Today, there is no drug based on this raw material in our country. A systematic study of the composition of the mineral compounds of viburnum fruits from different harvesting locations in Ukraine was not conducted. This is especially relevant because the significant content of organic acids to a certain extent determines the presence of a number of cations.

The purpose of the work is to determine the elemental composition of the series of common domestic medicinal plant raw materials – Viburnum fruits, harvested in Ukraine.

In the results of the research conducted by the method of atomic absorption spectrography with photographic registration of the results, it was found that in total at least 19 macro-, micro- and ultra-microelements were found in the raw materials. The content of total ash in series of viburnum fruits was determined. It ranged from 0.120 ± 0.005% (series 1) to 0.326 ± 0.010% (series 6). The following regularity is observed for the accumulation of macroelements in raw materials: for all studied series of raw materials, potassium and calcium dominated in terms of content (K > Ca). Significant data variability is observed for the remaining macronutrients. So, for the fruits of series 1 and 5, the following variant is defined – P > Mg > Na > Si, series 2 – Mg > Na > P, Si, series 3 – Mg > Na, P > Si, series 4 – Mg > P > Si > Na, series 6 – Na > Mg > P > Si.

The results of the study show that the potassium content ranges from 986.28 ± 9.27 mg/100 g (series 5) to one and a half times higher – 1451.38 ± 15.34 mg/100 g (series 5). In addition to potassium, the studied series contain large amounts of calcium – its content fluctuates more than twice, in the range: 302.29 ± 3.20 mg/100 g (series 2) – 661.30 ± 3.14 mg/100 g ( series 4). In addition to potassium and calcium, a fairly high content of magnesium was found – its content ranges from 79.22 ± 0.96 mg/100 g (series 5) to 107.95 ± 1.27 mg/100 g (series 6).

The highest content of phosphorus was determined in viburnum fruits of ordinary series 1 – 125.56 ± 1.59 mg/100 g, in the rest of the raw materials this indicator is 1.3–8 times lower, the lowest in fruits of series 2 – 15.80 ± 0,30 mg/100 g. The highest sodium content was determined in the raw materials of series 6 – 144.81 ± 1.84 mg/100 g. At that time, Viburnum fruits of series 2 contained almost five times less of this element (30.92 ± 0.61 mg/100 g). The fruits of series 6 are the leader in the accumulation of silicon compared to the rest of the studied series (where the content of this element can be five times lower) and contain 74.01 ± 0.87 mg/100 g of this compound.

A significant content of potassium (at least 980 mg/100 g), calcium (at least 300 mg/100 g), and magnesium (at least 75 mg/100 g), which play an important role in the functioning of the human body, confirms the perspective of taking into account the elemental of the pharmaceutical composition in the creation of original medicinal products.