Historical Drugs in Transylvania: Disclosing the Composition of Ointments from the "History of Pharmacy Collection" in Cluj-Napoca Through a Multi-Analytical Approach.

The National Museum of Transylvanian History in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, features a History of Pharmacy Collection that documents the evolution of pharmacies in the region since the 16th century. Within the "Pharmatrans" project (2021-2023), we investigated the chemical composition of ointments from fourteen historical pharmaceutical containers dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Most samples were from an aristocratic traveling medicine chest, a key artifact in the collection.

Native lignin extraction from soft- and hardwood by green and benign sub/supercritical fluid extraction methodologies.

Lignin constitutes an impressive resource of high-value low molecular weight compounds. However, robust methods for isolation of the extractable fraction from lignocellulose are yet to be established. In this study, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and CO-expanded liquid extraction (CXLE) were employed to extract lignin from softwood and hardwood chips.

Focusing on Volatile Organic Compounds of Natural Resins by Selected-Ion Flow Tube-Mass Spectrometry.

The analysis of archeological artifacts, due to the high value of antique objects, is preferably performed by nondestructive, noninvasive, and techniques. At present, the most common protocols used for the analysis of organic materials are spectroscopic approaches. In this work, we tested selected-ion flow tube-mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS), a transportable mass spectrometry system for the characterization and discrimination of natural resins by the analysis of their volatile organic compounds profiles.

Co-pyrolysis of biomass and plastic: Synergistic effects and estimation of elemental composition of pyrolysis oil by analytical pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

This paper presents a study on the pyrolytic behavior of mixtures of lignocellulosic biomass with hydrocarbon plastics using analytical pyrolysis-GC/MS. Semi-quantitative analysis using chromatographic peak areas was used to investigate the composition of the pyrolysis oils and to highlight the occurrence of synergistic effects. A new method is also proposed to estimate the elemental composition of the pyrolysis oil based on the peak areas and brute formulas of the pyrolysis products.

Profiling of high molecular weight esters by flow injection analysis-high resolution mass spectrometry for the characterization of raw and archaeological beeswax and resinous substances.

This work presents a method to characterize high molecular esters in beeswax and resinous substances based on the use of microwave-assisted extraction and flow injection analysis-high resolution mass spectrometry that combines the high efficiency of the extraction procedure with the advantages of high resolution mass spectrometry. This approach allows us to identify archaeological beeswax and plant resinous substances by the characterization of the survived intact high molecular weight components. By this way, several raw materials (beeswax, pine resin and pitch, and resin extracted from Euphorbia tirucalli) were studied and used as reference substances.

SIFT-ing archaeological artifacts: Selected ion flow tube-mass spectrometry as a new tool in archaeometry.

A fast non-destructive approach based on the use of portable selected ion flow tube-mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) was used for the first time to characterize organic materials in archaeological artifacts. The high sensitivity, specificity and selectivity SIFT soft chemical ionization mass spectrometry enabled us to investigate the composition of organic residues collected from ancient Egyptian findings in order to demonstrate the robustness of the techniques with different matrices. In addition, we tested SIFT-MS directly on an archaeological Egyptian amphora to prove its suitability as a completely non-invasive technique.