Transfer of Po-210, Pb-210 and U-238 from some medicinal plants to their essential oils

摘要

Essential oils were extracted from 35 medicinal plants used by Syrians, organic compounds were determined in these oils and concentrations of Po-210 Pb-210 and U-238 were determined in the original plants and in the essential oils. The results showed that the highest activity concentrations of Po-210 and Pb-210 were found in leaves with large surfaces and in Sage were as high as 73.5 Bq kg(-1) and 73.2 Bq kg(-1), respectively. The activity concentration of U-238 was as high as 4.26 Bq kg(-1) in Aloe. On the other hand, activity concentrations of Po-210 ranged between 0.2 and 71.1 Bq kg(-1) in extracted essential oils for Rosemary and False yellowhead, respectively. The activity concentration of Pb-210 reached 63.7 Bq kg(-1) in Aloe oil. The activity concentrations of U-238 were very low in all extracted oils; the highest value was 0.31 Bq kg(-1) in peel of Orange oil. The transfer of Po-210 and Pb-210 from plant to its oil was the highest for Eugenia; 7.1% and 5.5% for Po-210 and Pb-210, respectively. A linear relationship was found between the transfer factor of radionuclides from plant to its essential oil and the chemical content of this oil. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.