Cinchona bark, analyses

Quinine, isolated from cinchona bark in the form of hydrochloride or sulfate, is mainly used in medicine as an antimalarial and antipyretic medication. In sensory analysis it is used as a standard of bitterness and in the food industry for the production of bitter soft drinks, such as bitter lemon and Indian tonic waters, and in some alcoholic beverages (such as the flavoured wine Barolo Chinato in Italy) for its distinctive bitter taste. The taste threshold concentration of bitter taste perception is about 10 mg/1. 

Although the development of trace analysis is considered to have begun with studies related to the determination of trace elements, from the pharmaceutical point of view, the beginning of this field of science should be sought in the analysis of dmgs and especially in the search for active compounds in different t3 pes of pharmaceutical decoctions, tinctures, and macerations. Isolation of opium and later morphine from poppy juice, or isolation of quinine from cinchona tree bark, were nothing other than preparation and concentration of a sample before performing trace analysis [1-3]. 

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