CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS

• In India there are more than 17500 flowering plants, out of which 2000 plants
are used in various classical systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani

• 8000 species of wild plants are used as medicine

• drugs used in Indian System of Medicine are 90% based on plant material and are
considered to be safe, cost effective and with minimal or no side effects

• Mmethod of classification should be simple, easy to use; and free from confusion and
ambiguities(not confirm something is right or wrong)
 Drugs are classified as:
○ Alphabetical Classification

○ Morphological Classification

○ Taxonomical Classification

○ Chemical Classification

○ Pharmacological Classification

○ Chemo-taxonomical Classification

○ Sero-taxonomic Classification
 Alphabetical Classification
■ Alphabetical classification provides arrangement of crude drugs in
alphabetical
order of their Latin and English names or sometimes local names.
■ This method is adopted in many books like -
✔ Indian Pharmacopoeia,
✔ British Pharmacopoeia,
✔ United States Pharmacopoeia
✔ National Formulary,
✔ British Herbal Pharmacopoeia,
✔ British Pharmaceutical Codex,
✔ European Pharmacognosy
■ Encyclopedia of common Natural ingredients used in Drugs and
cosmetics.
■ In Indian Pharmacopoeia 1966 names changed to English, like Amylum
changed to starch, Acacia gum changed to Indian gum etc
■ EXAMPLE – Acacia,Benzoin,Fennel,Opium,Rauwolfia,Wool
fat,Yellow bees wax ,etc,.

■ ADVANTAGES
✔ It is simple method and no technical person is required for its handling
✔ In this system location , tracing and addition of drug is easy
■ DISADVANTAGES

✔ Original source of drug is not clear by this classification

✔ Scientific nature of drugs can"t be identified that the drug is
organised or unorganised
MORPHOLOGICAL
CLASSIFICATION
■ All crude drugs are arranged according to the external characters of the
plant or animal parts i.e., leaves, roots, stems, flowers from plants etc
■ The organized drugs are obtained from the cellular tissues and dried
parts of the plants like, Rhizomes, barks, leaves, fruits, entire plants,
hairs, fibres et
■ The plant drugs are prepared by some intermediate physical processes
like incision, drying or extraction with a solvent and some are do not
contain any cellular plant tissues which are called unorganized drugs,
e.g., aloe juice, opium latex, agar, gelatin, tragacanth, benzoin, honey,
beeswax, lemon grass oil etc.
■ Gum and Mucilage: Gums containing crude drugs are amorphous substances,
pathological products produced by the plants under injured or unfavourable conditions.
Mucilages are thick, gluey substances produced from plants and some microorganisms.
■ ADVANTAGES
✔ Easy method to studClyickotof apdldatenxtt drugs.
✔ Even if the chemical content or action of drug is not known the drug can be
studied properly.
✔ It gives idea about the source of drugs.
✔ It gives idea whether it is organized or unorganized.
✔ Easy to identify and detect the adulteration.
■ Disadvantages:
✔ During collection, drying and packing, morphology of drug
changes; they are difficult to study.
✔ No correlation between chemical constituents with therapeutic actions.
✔ Repetition of drugs or plants occurs.
 TAXONOMICAL CLASSIFICATION
■ This is the systematic naming of organisms into similar groups
■ Taxonomical classification is purely a botanical classification; it is based on principles of
natural relationship and evolutionary developments
■ For example, a white oak (Quercus alba) is named because of the white leaf.
■ They are grouped in Kingdom, Phyllum, Order, Family, Genus and Species. The
entire plant is not used as drug; only a part of plant is used as a drug. E.g. cinnamon bark.
■ The entire plant is not used as drug; only a part of plant is used as a
drug. E.g. cinnamon bark.
Advantages:

• Knowledge about taxonomical details will give proper idea about species and varieties of
the organisms.
• It is helpful for studying evolutionary developments of crude drugs.

Disadvantages:

• No idea about organized/unorganized.

• No idea about chemical nature.
• No correlation between the chemical constituents and biological activity of drugs.
 PHARMACOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
■ System in which the drugs are grouped according to their pharmacological action or most important constituent or
their therapeutic use is termed as pharmacological or therapeutic classification of drug.
■ Drugs like digitalis, squill and strophanthus having cardiotonic action are grouped together irrespective
of their parts used or phylogenetic relationship or the nature of phytoconstituents they contain
■ ADVANTAGES
✔ It is easy to study the drug based on pharmacological activity.
✔ If the drugs are not available at a particular place or point of time, based on
activity substitutes of drugs may possible
■ DISADVANTAGES
✔ Some crude drugs have two different pharmacological actions, therefore it is difficult
to classify them. For example, Nux-vomica is CNS stimulant as well as bitter tonic,
cinchona is bitter tonic as well as antimalarial and antipyretic.
✔ Drugs that have different mechanism of action have to be grouped together.
e.g. castor oil is irritant purgative and isapgol is bulk purgative, but they are placed
in one group.
✔ No idea whether drugs are organized or unorganized.
✔ This method does not give any idea of source of drugs
 Chemical Classification
■ The crude drugs are divided into different groups according to the
chemical nature of their most important constituent.
■ The pharmacological activity and therapeutic significance of crude
chemical classification of drugs is dependent upon the grouping of drugs with
identical constituents.
1. Carbohydrates Carbohydrates are polyhydroxy aldehydes or ketones
containing an unbroken chain of carbon atoms.
Examples: Gums – Acacia, Tragacanth.
Mucilages – Plantago seed, others – Starch, Honey, Agar, Pectin,
Cotton.
■ Glycosides:
✔ Glycosides are compounds which upon hydrolysis give rise to one or more sugars
(glycone) and non–sugar (aglycone).
✔ Anthraquinone Glycosides: Senna, Aloe, Cascara, Rhubarb etc.
✔ Saponins Glycosides: Quillaia, Glycyrrhiza;
✔ Cyanophore Glycosides: Wild cherry bark, Isothiocyanate Glycosides:
Mustard, Cardiac
✔ Glycosides: Digitalis, Strophantus,
✔ Bitter Glycosides: Gentian, Calumba, Quassia (c)
■ Tannins:
✔ Tannins are complex organic, non–nitrogenous derivatives of polyhydroxy
benzoic acids.
✔ Examples: Pale catechu, Black catechu, Ashoka bark, Amla
■ Volatile Oils:
✔ Monoterpines and Sesquiterpenes obtained from plants.
✔ Examples: Cinnamon, Fennel, Dill, Caraway, Coriander, Cardamom,
Orange peel, Mint, Clove, Valerian.
• Lipids:
✔ Fixed oils – Castor, Olive, Almond, Shark liver oil.
✔ Fats: Theobroma, Lanolin. Waxes: Beeswax.
■ Resins:
✔ Complex mixture of compounds like resinols, resin acids, resinotannols,
resenes.
✔ Examples: Colophony, Podophyllum, Cannabis, Capsicum, Turmeric,
Balsam of Tolu and Peru, Myrrh, Ginger.
■ Alkaloids:

✔ Nitrogenous substance of plant origin

✔ Pyridine and Piperidine: Lobelia, Nicotiana
✔ Tropane – Coca, Belladonna, Datura, Stramonium, Hyoscyamus,
Henbane. Quinoline – Cinchona
✔ Isoquinoline – Opium, Ipecac, Calumba
✔ Indole – Ergot, Rauwolfia.
✔ Amines – Ephedra,
✔ Purine – Tea, Coffee,
✔ Protein – Gelatin, Ficin, Papain.
■ Advantages
✔ If the chemical constituent is known then it is easy to study the drug.
✔ It is a popular approach for phytochemical studies.
✔ Medical uses are known.
■ Disadvantages
✔ This method does not give any idea about the source of drug.
✔ Some drugs contain two important chemicals so it is difficult to classify them. For
example, nutmeg contains volatile oil as well as fat; Cinchona contains glycoside as well
as alkaloid.
✔ No idea whether drug is organized or unorganized.
 Chemo-taxonomical Classification
■ This system of classification relies on the chemical similarity of taxon i.e., it is based on the
existence of relationship between constituents in various plants.
■ Generally, tropane alkaloids are belongs to the members of Solanaceae,
thereby serve a Chemotaxonomic marker
■ plant metabolites can serve as the basis of classification of crude
drugs.
■ The berberine alkaloid in Berberis and Argemone; Rutin in Rutaceae members,
ranunculaceous alkaloids among its members etc. are examples
■ Basic Principle: It consists of investigation of distribution of chemical compounds or group of
biosynthetically related compounds in a series of related plants.
■ Bentham and Hooker’s (1817-1911) classification: They adopted a comprehensive natural
system of classification in their published work “General Plantarum” which dominated the
botanical science. the plant kingdom comprises about 97205 species of seed plants which
are distributed in 202 orders . Dicots have been divided in three divisions on the basis of floral
characters viz., polypetalae,
■ Engler’s (1844-1930) classification: This is based on the relationship and is compatible
with evolutionary principles. He has published his system of classification in “Die Naturlichen
Pflanzenfamilien” in 23 volumes, covering whole plant kingdom. The increasing complexity
of the flowers is considered for classification. gamopetalae and monochlamydeae.
■ Hutchinson’s system of classification: “The families of flowering plants” in
1926 on dicots and in 1934 on monocots. He has further revised this system in 1959 and as
per that he placed the Gymnosperm first, then the Dicots and lastly Monocots. This system
indicates the concept of phylogenetic classification and is an
advanced system over Bentham and Hooker’s system.
■ Modern system of classification: It is based on ultrastructure
chromosomal information using higher microscope like electron
microscope, scanning electron microscope [Link] this system, genetic
and phylogenetic relationship was reflected and divided in broadly
two groups viz. micromolecules and macromolecules.
✔ Micromolecules are compounds with a molecular weight less
than 1000 e.g., alkaloids, terpenoids, fatty acids, amino acids,
simple carbohydrate etc.
✔ Macromolecules are compounds with a molecular weight
1000 or more, e.g., complex polysaccharides, proteins, DNA, RNA
etc. In this system serotaxonomy is gaining importance.
■ Advantages:
✔ It gives more scope for understanding the relationship between chemical
constituents, their biosynthesis and their possible action.
✔ The characters most often studied are secondary metabolites of pharmaceutical
significance such as alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, DNA hybridization, amino acid
sequencing in proteins etc.
✔ It provides degree of hybridization and breeding analysis
■ Disadvantages:
✔ This system is fails to identify the organized and unorganized crude drugs in
their morphological studies.
✔ This system fails to understand the therapeutic nature of the crude drugs.
 Serotaxonomic Classification
■ Serotaxonomy is the application of serology, serology is the study of

antigen and antibody reactions

■ In the immune system, a specific protein molecule produced by plasma cell is known as
antibody.
■ These antibodies combine chemically with specific antigen and in combination elevate an
immune response
■ The application of serology in solving taxonomic problems is known as

serotaxonomy.
■ The main importance of serological data is used to classify

angiosperms-
✔ Fairbrothers (1983) used serological data in classification of orders and families in Apiales,
Fagales, Rubiales, Magnoliales, Ranunculales etc.
✔ Fairbrothers and Jhonson separated six species of Bromus based on
the serological data in 1959.
✔ The relationship between Nymphaeaceae and nelumbonaceae based on serological
data was established by Simon (1971).
✔ Klos applied serotaxonomic data in the classification of
Leguminosae.
■ Advantages:
✔ The size of the data used in molecular taxonomy studies is enormous.
✔ The analysis of the cladograms is done using statistical methods.
✔ If the molecule is unchanged (Like genes coding for ribosomal RNA),
the relationships are traced far back in time.
✔ Non-heritable variations are avoided in molecular taxonomy studies.