Adulteration and Evaluation of

Crude drugs
 Recap

In the last we have discussed about

• Methods of adulteration

• Commonly used substitutes in adulteration

• Evaluation for determining adulterants

 Objectives
On completion of this period, you would be able to
know

• Organoleptic evaluation

• Microscopical evaluation

• Physical evaluation

• Chemical evaluation

• Biological evaluation

• Standards in pharmacopoeia
 Evaluation of Crude Drugs
Evaluation refers to the Standardisation of crude drugs

It includes
Identity of the crude drug and determination of its
Quality and
Purity

Identity of the drug is confirmed by

Comparing the sample with an authentic sample
or
Comparing with the Official Literature available
 Evaluation of Crude Drugs
• Quality

refers to the amount of Active chemical constituents

present in the crude drug

• Purity

refers to the freedom from admixture

Organoleptic (Morphological) Evaluation:

• It involves study of crude drugs by utilizing our

organs of sense

• Gross morphology and other sensory characters

like colour, size, shape, odour, taste, fracture,

texture etc.,
 Microscopical Evaluation
• Study of microscopical characters of the organised
drug

• Types of cells, tissues present, cell contents like

starch, calcium oxalate, mucilage, special structures
like stomata or trichomes present or absent

• Microchemical tests useful in evaluating certain

organised drugs
 Microscopical Evaluation

Quantitative microscopy

Stomatal number

Stomatal Index

Vein-islet number

Palisade Ratio
 Physical Evaluation:

Determination of typical physical constants

• Viscosity

• Swelling factor

• Melting point

• Specific gravity
 Physical Evaluation:
• Refractive index

• Ash values

• Optical rotation

• Volatile oil content of crude drugs

• Moisture content
 Foreign organic matter:

• Pharmacopoeia prescribe maximum limit for

other parts of plants or other organic matter

in many crude drugs and also include

Animal excreta, Moulds or Insects

 Extractive values
The chemical constituents may be extracted with suitable
solvent known as extractives

1. Water soluble extractives : water soluble constituents

2. Alcohol soluble extractives: Alkaloids, Glycosides, etc.,

3. Ether soluble extractives

Volatile : Volatile oils

Non-volatile : Resins
 Volatile oil content

• Drugs containing volatile oil like Cinnamon, Clove etc.,

are evaluated by determining volatile oil content by

Steam distillation
 Ash values
• Refer to the amount of inorganic matter present
in the crude drug or collected along with the drug

1. Total Ash value

2. Acid Insoluble Ash

3. Water soluble Ash

4. Sulphated Ash
 Chemical Evaluation:
It involves determination of Active chemical
constituents

• Assays

• Total alkaloidal content

• Assayed by acid base titrations

• Non-aqueous titration.
 Biological Evaluation:

Some crude drugs cannot be evaluated satisfactorily by

Chemical or physical methods

They may be assayed by making use of

Living tissue or organs

Animals or

Micro-organisms like Bacteria or fungi

 Biological Evaluation

• Bacteria and fungus are used to determine

Anti-bacterial and Anti-fungal activity

• For Biological assay of Vitamin – D

containing substances guinea pigs are used.

Bio-assay of digitalis is done on pigeons

 Significance of Pharmacopoeial Standards

• Drugs should be uniform in quality

Type of standards:

• Structural standards

• Analytical standards

• Physical constants
 Pharmacopoeia
• Pharmacopoeia is an official code Containing a list

of established drugs

The important pharmacopoeias are

• Indian Pharmacopoeia - I.P.

• British Pharmacopoeia - B.P.

• United States Pharmacopoeia- U.S.P.

 Pharmacopoeial Standards

• The authenticity of a crude drug is established

• By references given in Pharmacopoeias.

 Summary

In this class we learnt about

• Organoleptic evaluation

• Microscopical evaluation

• Physical evaluation

• Chemical evaluation

• Biological evaluation

• Standards in pharmacopoeia
 Quiz

1. Confirmation of identity of crude drugs by studying

microscopical characters comes under

a. Morphological evaluation

b. Physical evaluation

c. Biological evaluation

d. Microscopical evaluation
 Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is evaluation?. List out various evaluation

methods. (April 2006)

2. Define adulteration. Mention the various methods used

in adulteration of drugs (April 2004)