Thermal analysis techniques in herbal medicine: A comprehensive review on unveiling integrity and quality for future perspectives

Due to its complex composition, herbal medicine requires unique strategies and techniques to verify its integrity and quality. Hence, various instrumental methods have been employed in recent years to analyze medicinal plants. One of the most imperative techniques for studying medicinal plants is thermal analysis (TA) methods. TA characterizes the chemical and physical properties of substances as the sample's temperature increases or decreases. TA techniques find application in an increasingly wide range of areas, including qualitative and quantitative analysis, the characterization of physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of herbal medicines, and the acquisition of additional information about their structure. Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) are the main thermoanalytical approaches in analyzing herbal medicine. This review demonstrates the applications of TA methods in analyzing herbal medicine. The highlights of this investigation bring appreciated insight into the indication of the capability of TA methods to inspect the chemical and physical properties of herbal medicines.