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ADULTERATION

• Adulteration is defined as substituting the

original crude drug partially or fully with other
substance which is either free from or inferior
in therapeutic and chemical properties.

• OR: adulteration is also defined as mixing or

substituting the original drug material with
other spurious, inferior, defective, spoiled,
useless parts of same or different plant or
harmful substances or drug which do not
confirm with the official standards.

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• The quality of vegetable drugs is injured by a

number of factors, of which the followings may
be mentioned:
1. Lack of knowledge from the collector, or careless
factor in collecting them.
2. Carelessness in drying and keeping them.
3. Insufficient care in garbling and preparing them
for the market.
4. Inattention in preserving and storing them.
5. Accidental admixture in the store (ware house).
6. Intentional adulteration and substitution.

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• Reasons for substitution:

1. Non-availability of the drug (scarcity factor).
2. Uncertain identity of the drug
(Authentication factor).
3. Cost of the drug (the drug is expensive).
4. Geographical distribution of the drug (e.g.
sandal wood).

• Adulteration may takes place by two ways:

1. Direct or intentional adulteration.
2. Indirect or unintentional adulteration.

Direct or intentional adulteration (Sophistication):

• Due to morphological resemblance to the
authentic herb, many different inferior
commercial varieties are used as adulterants.
These may or may not have any chemical or
therapeutic potential.

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1. With artificially manufactured materials.

• This is done with artificial substances that
resemble the original drug.
• This practice is generally followed for much
costlier drug, examples:
i. Nutmeg is adulterated with basswood (Tilia
tomentosa) prepared to the required shape
and size.
ii. Another example: the colored paraffin wax is
used instead of beeswax.

2. With inferior quality materials.

• Inferior quality material may or may not have the
same chemical or therapeutic value as that of the
original natural drug (due to their morphological
resemblance to authentic drug), they are
marketed as adulterants, examples:
i. Atropa belladonna leaves are substituted with
Ailanthus spp. leaves.
ii. Papaya seeds are used to adulterate Piper
nigrum.
iii. Mother cloves and clove stalks are mixed with
clove.
iv. Beeswax is substituted by Japan wax.

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3. With exhausted material.

• Many drugs are extracted on large scale for
isolation of active principle, e.g. volatile oils.
• The exhausted material may be used again (i.e.
dried & packed again) entirely or partially as a
substituent to the original drug, examples:
i. Umbelliferous fruits (like funnel and anise) and
cloves are adulterated with the same but
exhausted original drugs (i.e. without volatile
oils).
ii. Additional example, exhausted jalap and Indian
hemp (i.e. without resins) are also used as
adulterant to the original drugs.

4. With foreign matter.

• Sometimes synthetic chemicals are used to enhance the
natural character; e.g. addition of benzyl benzoate to
balsam of Peru, also addition of citral to citrus oils (like
lemon oil and orange oil).
5. With harmful / Fictitious substances.
• Sometimes the wastes from market are collected and
admixed with authentic drugs particularly for liquids or
unorganized drugs, examples:
i. Pieces of amber colored glass is used as colophony!
ii. Limestone is used as asafetida!
iii. Lead shot is used as opium!
iv. Any white colored oil is used as coconut oil!
v. Cocoa butter can be adulterated by stearin or paraffin!

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6. Adulteration of powders.
• Drugs in powder form can also be adulterated.
• Powders are easily to be adulterated!

i. Examples: liquorice powder or gentian is admixed

with olive stones powder.
ii. Also under the name of cinchona, C. calisaya, C.
officinalis, C. ledgeriana and C. succirubra are
available as mixtures in powder form.

Evaluation of crude drugs

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• Evaluation of crude drugs:

• Evaluation of drugs deals with the correct
identification (authentication) of the plant (i.e.
confirmation of genuineness of the raw material)
and determination of quality and purity of the
crude drugs.
• General methods for evaluation are grouped in:-
1. Chemical group: involve the isolation and
estimation of the active principles or qualitative
chemical tests.
2. Physical group: involve measuring the physical
properties, like specific gravity, determination of
melting point, determination of elasticity of
fibres, etc.

3. Organoleptic group: it is macroscopical evaluation

or morphological evaluation.

4. Microscopical group: by using the microscope to

study microscopical characters (internal charactors,
anatomical features or microchemical tests).

5. Biological group: in which some biological standards

are applicable for crude drugs evaluation.

 The above groups are collectively applied together

to evaluate crude drugs with the following steps:

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a) Preliminary examination by using morphological

examination:
• This is achieved by means of macroscopical and
sensory characters such as colour, odour, general
appearance, structure, texture, etc., they are called
organoleptic (by means of the organs of sense: skin,
eye, tongue, nose and ear). The final evaluation
depends largely on the amount of the active
ingredient present in the drug.
b) Microscopic examination:
• Studying the histology of organized drugs (TS & LS);
it is very useful in studying drugs (specially in powder
form). In addition, quantitative microscopy is also
used.

c) Determination of foreign matter:

• To study unwanted parts of the drugs or of
organic matters.
• It is determined as a percentage of total weight
of a crude drug sample and we should compare
with standards mentioned in the
pharmacopoeia for each drug.
d) Determination of moisture content:
• Moisture together with the temperature leads
to activation of enzymes and proliferation of
living organisms.
• Moisture is determined by:-
i. Loss on drying: it is done by heating the drug to
100-105˚C. Digitalis, starch, aloes and fibers are
examples.

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ii. For crude drugs containing a considerable amount of

volatile material, it is accomplished by spreading thin
layers of the well weighed crude drug over glass plates
and placing them inside a desiccator with phosphorus
pentoxide. Vacuum drying over an absorbent may also
be utilized, possibly, at a specified temperature.
• Methods of separation and determination of water:
i. By using different distillation methods.
ii. Chemical methods: like Karl Fischer titration; e.g. dry
extracts of alkaloid containing drugs, alginic acid,
alginates and fixed oils may be usefully evaluated by
this method.
iii. Spectroscopic methods: e.g. UV, MS and NMR
instruments.
iv. Electric methods: like measuring the conductivity.

e) Extractive value:
• By determination of water-soluble, non-water
soluble or ethanol-soluble extractives, they are
used as a measure for evaluating chemical
constituents which are not readily estimated by
other means; then compare your result with the
standard extractive values mentioned in the
pharmacopoeia (e.g. yield percentage).
f) Ash value:
• It is inorganic ash left following ignition of herbal
materials (at about 450 ◦C in Muffle furnace) to
remove carbon. It is determined by three different
methods:

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1) Total ash: it is the total amount of materials

remaining after ignition; this include both
physiological ash which is derived from the plant
tissue itself and non physiological ash which is the
residue of extraneous matter (sand and soil); then
compare your result with pharmacopoeial standards.
2) Acid-insoluble ash: it is the residue obtained after
boiling of total ash with diluted HCl, and igniting the
remaining insoluble matter (this measure the sand
content); then compare your result with
pharmacopoeial standards.
3) Water soluble ash: it is the difference between the
total ash and the residue left after treatment of the
total ash with water; then compare your result with
pharmacopoeial standards.

g) Chromatographic profile:
• By using thin layer chromatography (TLC) and
other chromatographic methods.
• Rf value is the distance moved by solute divided
by distance moved by solvent front
(characteristic to any chemical constituent under
specific conditions).
• HPLC, or gas chromatography can also be used
(vR & tR respectively).
h) Determination of microbial contamination:
• Acacia, agar, sterculia, tragacanth, powdered
digitalis etc. should be free from Escherichia coli
in specific quantity of the material state. Also
some plant substances should be free from
Salmonella spp., e.g. tragacanth gum.

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i) Toxic residue:
• The drug should be freed from pesticides
which was used during cultivation or
during drug storage.
• Some times, the pharmacopoeia mentions
a maximum limit of pesticides which can
be allowed.

j) Crude fiber content, volatile oil content,

tannins content, bitterness value,
swelling index, etc are many other
standards which are applied for certain
groups of compounds and are mentioned
in many pharmacopoeias.

Thanks

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