(1) Background: Aristolochia spp. are plants spread around the world and are cautiously used for medicinal purposes due to their toxic compounds. Because of their content of aristolochic acid I (AAI), a major carcinogenic compound, these plant preparations can cause acute and chronic kidney disease, which is associated with cancer. These compounds also contaminate the environment where Aristolochia plants grow, leading to indirect exposure of the population. (2) Methods: The study provides a practical solution for minimizing the toxic effects of AAI using activated charcoal (AC). An ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with a diode array detector (DAD) was used for the AAI qualitative and quantitative evaluation at different time points. Also, the greenness of the chromatographic analysis was evaluated with the AGREE method. (3) Results: A medical pill of 250 mg AC removed 125 µg/mL AAI from a methanolic solution in 30 min with 97.65% efficiency. The greenness for the analytical evaluation was 58%. (4) Conclusions: This study offers, for the first time, a low-cost medical and environmental solution for AAI contamination. The UHPLC–DAD method seems to be an environmentally responsible platform for the AAI routine analysis. AC shows efficient removal, which could be used both for Aristolochia sp. pharmaceutical preparations as well as in environmental decontamination.
Pricop et al. (Fri,) studied this question.