Extraction and Characterization of Medicinal Plant Extracts

Dry leaves from M–ML common and control crops were used for obtaining dry extracts. Based on our previous study [22 (link)], the solvent used for the extraction was 50% ethanol for all plants. Exactly 25 g of plant material were used from every crop and were subjected to two consecutive reflux extraction processes: the first extraction used 1.5 L solvent for 30 min, while the second used 750 mL solvent for 30 min. The two extract solutions were mixed and concentrated in a rotary evaporator (Buchi, Vacuum Pump V-700) and then subjected to a lyophilization process (Christ Alpha 1–2/B Braun, BiotechInt, New Delhi, India). The dry extracts were conserved in a glass vacuum desiccator [50 (link)]. The samples were marked as follows: MM E (Mentha extract from control crop), MF E (Mentha extract from common crop), MLM E (Melissa extract from control crop) and MLF E (Melissa extract from common crop). Each stage of the research includes a presentation of additional tools and experimental setups used in this investigation.