A Feasible Method of Reducing Carbon Emission for Processing Traditional Chinese Medicine

Objective: Traditional Chinese medicine processing typically employs a significant amount of water and heat, and thus is classified as an environmentally unfriendly process. Additionally, diverse processing methods will produce variations in composition and content among the products, resulting in inconsistent quality. The present study aims to develop processing methods for several common traditional Chinese medicines using microwave reactions. Methods: Several common traditional Chinese medicines, including Armeniacae Semen, Arctii Fructus, Scutellariae Radix, and Gardeniae Fructus, were processed by microwave heating. These medicinal materials are evaluated by investigating the differences in chemical composition between the raw plants and processed traditional Chinese medicines using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The suitable analytical targets are selected based on the concept of Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) management. Results: In this study, the developed microwave-processed protocols took only a few minutes. Moreover, the medicinal materials were analyzed by HPLC, in which the analytical method exhibits good precision and accuracy, and further the microwave processing parameters were optimized. Conclusion: Traditional processing of herbal medicines typically consumes large amounts of energy and requires several hours or days. In contrast, microwave processing completes within minutes, representing substantial reduction in both time and energy. Furthermore, comparative chemical analyses between raw and processed materials revealed distinct variations in indicator compounds, providing evidence of compositional changes induced by processing.