https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-026-07692-8
Review
Essential and toxic heavy metal analysis for seeds and root parts of medicinal herbs with energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry
1
Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, College of Medicine, University of Thi-Qar, 64001, Thi-Qar, Iraq
2
Department of Physics, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
3
Department of Physics, College of Science, University of Thi-Qar, Thi-Qar, Iraq
a
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Received:
12
July
2025
Accepted:
14
April
2026
Published online:
6
May
2026
Abstract
Traditional Iraqi medicinal herbs, utilized for therapeutic purposes, are regarded as valuable suppliers of numerous vital elements that play a significant part in various metabolic functions. The Instrumental Scanning Electron Microscope/Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) has been utilized to identify the elements C, O, Mg, Cl, Ca, K, P, S, Na, Cu, Cr, Ni, Fe, Co, Si, V, Ti, U, Al, Pt, and Pd in 25 medicinal herbs frequently employed in Iraqi households and in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of various conditions. The SEM-MED reveals that the two elements carbon C and oxygen O are detected in all the herbs and the carbon C is the dominant element detected at high concentration followed by oxygen O, chromium Cr, and magnesium Mg elements.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
