A comparative study of ethanolic versus triturated dilutions in terms of the amount of caffeine extracted from Coffea tosta by means of high pressure liquid chromatography

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the amount of caffeine extracted from triturated samples and ethanolic samples of Coffea tosta using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) as a method of analysis. The study wanted to expand on homoeopathic pharmaceutical knowledge, specifically looking at the two methods of remedy preparation of plant materials. From the same batch of ground roasted coffee beans, using the decimal scale of dilution, the mother tincture (bill) and the first triturated (bill) samples were prepared. The subsequent 2xH and 3xH triturated and ethanolic potencies were then made in accordance with homoeopathic methodology. Each group contained three different dilution levels (bill, 2xH and 3xH), 18 samples per group giving a total of36 samples that were analysed using HPLC. Three samples were analysed from the three dilution levels in each Group, in total there were 18 samples from the triturated group and 18 from the ethanolic group. . The samples were analysed quantitatively using the highly accurate and advanced method of high pressure liquid chromatography. This method gives accurate readings of the caffeine concentrations of a sample compared to a caffeine standard. This allowed for quantification of the caffeine concentration of each sample. The percentage caffeine was calculated from each sample. The aim of the study was to evaluate the difference in each method of preparation by measuring the amount of caffeine extracted from the samples. The results obtained from the inter-Group Mann-Whitney and ANOVA tests showed that there was a significant difference between the ethanolic dilutions and triturated dilutions with regards to the 1xH and 2xH dilutions. In the 1xH dilution the ethanolic method retained