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Y2KK update: This ISU does not belong to me. It belongs
to my sister, VivF. This was her Grade 13 Chemistry ISU project
and I'm posting it on the internet so that I'll never lose it.
I hope the little one is having so much fun at Western University...
Click Here for the Microsoft
Word '97 Doc
Plants have existed on earth
since the beginning of evolution. Humans, even though considered
to be the highest form of life must still rely heavily on plants
for food, oxygen, medicines as well as other uses. It is strange,
that in all these years of co-existence, man still has not understood
all there is too know about the plant world. Stranger still,
is the fact that in the last 30 or 40 years, their has been an
urge to return to the more natural solution of plants for medicine,
food, and biological controls such as insecticide. We now know
that over use commercialized chemical compounds have a devastating
effect on both the ecology and ourselves. For instance, the overuse
of antibiotics has resulted in strains of bacteria which are
immune to these treatments, or the increase of cancer rates as
a result of overusing insecticides such as DDT. As a result,
we are now looking for alternatives which are more natural yet
just as effective. In the last 20 or so years much interest and
research have focused on flavonoids, compounds which often give
plants their colour, has been discovered to have many other functions
as well. Some types of flavonoids such as quercetin has been
shown to exhibit anti-carcinogenic, anti-flammatory, and anti-oxidizing
properties. In this independent study I attempted to study the
flavonoids in Linaria Vulgaris, considered a weed among Ontario
and surrounding regions. Historically it has been used in folk
medicine, as a dye, in soil fixation, and as an insecticide.
The objective of this study was to crystallize and send to a
laboratory for analysis the extract of linarin (flavonoids from
the flowers) that my predecessor extracted, as well as extracting
other types of flavonoids from the leaves and stems of the plant.
In the later part, I attempted to extract flavonoid glucosides,
which have been said to be insectically active and as a result,
would have many applications. Through experimentation, I discovered
that linarin is not only present in the flowers of Linaria, but
also present throughout the entire plant, as well as finding
a solvent that successfully extracted the glucosides from the
stems and leaves. However, due to problems with the crystallization
processes as well as other extenuating circumstances I was not
able to carry the experimental section of my independent study
as far as I had hoped. However, I managed to compile many bibliographical
references on all aspects pertaining to my project which as a
result, is the major contribution of this ISU. |