In the Quality Assurance laboratories, the core equipment includes a Liquid Chromatograph Tandem Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS/MS) for detection, identification and quantification of both primary and secondary metabolites in herbal materials. Furthermore, the LC-MS/MS is also used for screening pesticides and natural toxins including aflatoxins, ochratoxins and fumonisins in plant materials, water and biologicals; a Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) for analysis of essential oils and fragrances as well as other primary metabolites in herbal plants; a High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) Densitometer that breathes new life into traditional thin layer chromatography (TLC) by enabling easier visualization of screened herbal extracts for the purposes of identification and quantification of their constituents; a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer for determining the composition of both essential elements and toxic metals in plants, soil and liquids; a Ultra Violet – Visible (UV-Vis) Spectrophotometer for characterizing chemical compounds from plants based on their ability to absorb UV and Visible radiation; a Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) Spectrophotometer with Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) technology for creating fingerprints of plant extracts as well as rapid determination of impurities in isolated plant compounds.
