Methods of extracton

Solvent extraction Distillation Expression

(Mechanical extraction)
Mostly for non-volatile For volatile plant
plant constuituents and constuituents For both volatile and
sometimes for voilatile ones non-volatile plant
constituents

Volatile solvent Non-volatile

extraction solvent
extraction
> pet. ether
> hexane > petrolatum
> methanol > silicon polymers
> butter
> chloroform
> acetone etc. > fixed oils
The general techniques of medicinal plant
extraction
 maceration,
 infusion,
 percolation,
 digestion,
 decoction,
 hot continuous extraction (Soxhlet),
 aqueous-alcoholic extraction by fermentation,
 counter-current extraction,
 microwave-assisted extraction,
 ultrasound extraction (sonication),
 supercritical fluid extraction,
 phytonic extraction (with hydrofluorocarbon
solvents).
 Maceration
• The whole / coarsely powdered crude drug is placed in a
stoppered container with the solvent.
• Allow to stand @ room temperature for a period of at least 3 days
with frequent agitation until the soluble matter gets dissolved.
• The mixture then is strained, the marc (the damp solid material) is
pressed,
• The combined liquids are clarified by filtration or decantation
after standing.
• This method is best suitable for use in case of the
thermolabile drugs.
• It involves separation of medicinally active portion of the crude
drug.
• It is based on the immersion of the crude drugs in bulk of solvent
or menstrum.
 Infusion
• Fresh infusions are prepared by macerating the crude
drug for a short period of time with cold or boiling
water.
• These are dilute solutions of the readily soluble
constituents of crude drugs.
Digestion
• This is a form of maceration in which gentle heat is used
during the process of extraction.
• It is used when moderately elevated temperature is not
objectionable.
• The solvent efficiency of the menstrum is thereby
increased.
 Decoction
• In this process, the crude drug is boiled in a specified
volume of water (1;4) for a defined time,
• Volume is reduced to 1/4th the original,
• It is then cooled and strained / filtered.
• This procedure is suitable for extracting  water-
soluble, heat-stable constituents.
• Typically used in preparation of Ayurvedic extracts =
“quath” / “kawath”
Percolation
• Percolation is a continuous flow of the solvent through the bed of
crude drug material to get the extract.
• The percolator is generally V- shaped vessel open at both the ends.
• Percolation process is dependent on the flow of the solvent
through powdered drug and it yields a product of greater
concentration than the maceration process.
• Used most frequently to extract active ingredients in the
preparation of tinctures and fluid extracts.
• The solid ingredients are moistened with an appropriate amount of
the specified menstruum,
• Allowed to stand for approximately 4 hours in a well closed
container, After stand time, the mass is packed & the top of the
percolator is closed.
• the mixture is allowed to macerate in the closed percolator for
24h.
• Additional menstruum is added as required, until the
,
percolate measures about three-quarters of the
required volume of the finished product.
• The marc is then pressed and the expressed liquid is
added to the percolate.
• Sufficient menstruum is added to produce the
required volume.
• The mixed liquid is
clarified by filtration or
by standing followed
by decanting.
 Hot Continuous Extraction (Soxhlet
Extraction)
• Soxhlet extraction is the process of continuous extraction
in which the same solvent can be circulated through the
extractor several times.
• The process involves extraction followed by evaporation
of the solvent.
• The vapours of the solvent are taken to a condenser and
the condensed liquid is returned to the drug for
continuous extraction.
• The finely ground crude drug is placed in a porous bag
or “thimble” made of strong filter paper, which is
placed in chamber of the Soxhlet apparatus.
• The extracting solvent in flask is heated, and its vapors
condense in condenser.
• The condensed extract drips into the thimble
containing the crude drug & extracts it by contact.
• When the level of liquid in chamber rises to the top of
siphon tube, the liquid contents of chamber siphon into
flask
• This process is continuous and is carried out until a
drop of solvent from the siphon tube does not leave
residue when evaporated.
Soxhlet apparatus
Aqueous Alcoholic Extraction by Fermentation
• Some medicinal preparations of Ayurveda
(asava & arista) adopt the technique of
fermentation for extracting the active
principles.
• The extraction procedure involves soaking the
crude drug, [powder / a decoction (kasaya)], for
a specified period of time
• Undergoes fermentation & generates alcohol in
situ.
• This facilitates the extraction of the active
constituents contained in the plant material.
• The alcohol thus generated also serves as a
preservative.
• Some examples of Ayurvedic preparations:
karpurasava, ,
kanakasava,
dasmularista.

• If the fermentation is to be carried out in an

earthen vessel, it should not be new: water
should first be boiled in the vessel.
• In large-scale manufacture, wooden vats,
porcelain jars or metal vessels are used in place of
earthen vessels.
 Ultrasound Extraction (Sonication)
• The procedure involves the use of ultrasound with
frequencies ranging from 20 kHz to 2000 kHz.
• This increases the permeability of
cell walls & produces cavitation.
Eg: extraction of rauwolfia root.

• Deleterious effect: Ultrasound energy (>20 kHz) on the

active constituents of medicinal plants through
formation of free radicals and consequently undesirable
changes in the drug molecules.
 Essential oils

• Used in a wide variety of consumer goods viz.,

detergents, soaps, toilet products, cosmetics,
pharmaceuticals, perfumes, confectionery food
products, soft drinks, distilled alcoholic beverages
(hard drinks) and insecticides.
• Production technology is an essential element to
improve the overall yield & quality of essential oi l.
The traditional methods for essential oil extraction
• Water distillation,
• Water and steam distillation,
• Steam distillation,
• Cohobation,
• Maceration,
• Enfleurage.
 Methods

1. Distillation: Originally introduced by Von

Rechenberg.
• water distillation.
• water and steam distillation.
• direct steam distillation.
2. Hydrolytic maceration distillation.
3. Expression.
4. Cold fat extraction / Enfleurage.
• Distillation methods are good for powdered almonds, rose
petals and rose blossoms.
• Maceration is adaptable when oil yield from distillation is
poor.
• Solvent extraction is suitable for expensive, delicate &
thermally unstable materials like jasmine, tuberose, and
hyacinth.
• Water distillation is the most favored method of
production of citronella oil from plant material.
 Pomades
• Pomades are obtained by a process known as
enfleurage, which is a cold fat extraction method.
• The fat is spread out on glass plates contained in
wooden frames, leaving a clear margin near the edges.
• The absorptive surface of the fat is increased by
surface grooves made with a wooden spatula.
• Fresh flowers are spread out on the surface of the fat
and the frames are stacked in piles.
• After the perfume oils have been absorbed from the
flowers, the spent flowers are removed by hand.
• Fresh flowers are again spread on the fat surface.
• This is repeated until the fat surface is completely
enriched with perfume oils.
• The pomade so obtained is ready for cold alcoholic
extraction
 Isolation and purification
• The physical methods used for purification are
chromatographic technique and methods such as
fractional crystallisation, fractional distillation,
fractional liberation and sublimation.
Fractional crystallisation:
• It is depends upon the inherent character of the
compound which forms crystals at the point of super
saturation in the solvent in which it is soluble.
• Compounds such as sugars, glycosides, alkaloids,
steroids, triterpenoids, flavonoids etc. shows
crystalline nature.
• Processes such as concentration, slow evaporation and
refrigeration are used for crystallising the product.
Fractional distillation:
• For distillation compound should have volatile nature.
• It is used for separation of essential oil components.
• This process widely used for separation of hydrocarbons
from oxygenated volatile oil components.
• Components such as citral, citronellal and eucalyptols.
• Fractional Liberation:
• In this process, groups of compounds having tendency
of precipitation comes out of the solution.
• Alkaloids, is modified by converting it to its salt form or
free base.
• This process is used for separation of cinchona alkaloid
quinine, isolation of morphine and many other alkaloids.
• Sublimation:
• In this process the compound, if subjected to heat,
changes from solid to gaseous state directly without
passing through the liquid stage.
• The process is traditionally used for the separation of
camphor from the chips of wood of Cinnamomum
camphora to obtain solid sublimate of camphor.
 Chromatography

• Chromatography is usually introduced as a

technique for separating and/or identifying the
components in a mixture.
• The basic principle is that components in a mixture
have different tendencies to adsorb onto a surface
or dissolve in a solvent.
 Basic Chromatographic terminology
• Chromatograph: Instrument employed for a chromatography.
• Stationary phase: Phase that stays in place inside the column
• Mobile phase: Solvent moving through the column, either a liquid in LC
or gas in GC.
• Eluent: Fluid entering a column.
• Eluate: Fluid exiting the column.
• Elution: The process of passing the mobile phase through the column.
• Chromatogram: Graph showing detector response as a function of a time.
• Flow rate: How much mobile phase passed / minute (ml/min).
• Linear velocity: Distance passed by mobile phase per 1min in the
column (cm/min).
 Types of Chromatography
• Paper chromatography
• thin layer chromatography (TLC)
• gas chromatography (GC)
• liquid chromatography (LC)
• high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
• Ion exchange chromatography
• gel filtration chromatography.
• All chromatographic methods require one
static part (the stationary phase) and one
moving part (the mobile phase).
• The techniques rely on one of the following
phenomena: adsorption; partition; ion
exchange; or molecular exclusion.
Mobile phase - flows through column, carries
analyte.
• Gas = Gas Chromatography (GC)
• Liquid = Liquid Chromatography (LC), Thin Layer
Chromatography (TLC)
• Supercritical fluid = Supercritical Fluid Chromatography
(SFC)
• Stationary phase - stays in a place, does not
move.
• GC, LC placed inside of the column
• TLC – layer of a sorbent on the plate
• The SEPARATION is based on the partitioning
between the mobile and stationary phase
 Classification of Chromatography
2. Based on the Configuration of the instrument (the
way the stationary phase is dispersed)
a. Planar Chromatography: - the SP is immobilized in the
plane. Ex.. TLC, PC
b. Columnar Chromatography: - the SP is immobilized in the
column
Ex. GC, CC, HPLC
3. Based on the nature of the Mobile phase: -
A. Liquid Chromatography
B. Gas Chromatography
C. Super critical fluid Chromatography
 Principles of Liquid Chromatography

Load sample Add

solvent

Column
containing
stationary
phase

Collect components
4. Based on the nature of the Stationary Phase
A. Normal phase Chromatography: - stationary phase is polar,
mobile phase is non polar
B. Reverse phase Chromatography: - stationary phase is non-
polar, mobile phase is polar
5.. Based on column type
1. Closed column chromatography
• stationary phase is packed inside a column
• mobile phase + solute flows through the column -> separation
2. Open column chromatography
-Paper chromatography- sheet of paper is used to support the
stationary phase
- Thin-layer chromatography- adsorbent is spread evenly over
the surface of a flat sheet of glass
Adsorption-
 It has a solid stationary phase and a liquid or gaseous mobile phase
• Each solute has its own equilibrium between adsorption onto the
surface of the solid and solubility in the solvent
• the least soluble or best adsorbed ones travel more slowly.
• The result is a separation into bands containing different solutes.
Partition
• In partition chromatography the stationary phase is a non-volatile
liquid which is held as a thin layer (or film) on the surface of an
inert solid.
• The mixture to be separated is carried by a gas or a liquid as the
mobile phase.
• The solutes distribute themselves between the moving and the
stationary phases, with the more soluble component in the mobile
phase reaching the end of the chromatography column first
• Paper chromatography is an example of partition chromatography.
 Paper Chromatography
 A chromatographic analytical separation technique for complex
mixtures involving the progressive adsorption of the dissolved
component onto a special grade of paper.
 SP: Water adsorbed on cellulose
 The SP can be modified in to reversed phase or ion exchange
 MP: A binary mixture of incompletely miscible components
 MoS: Partition
  Principle(PC)

• The certain solvent are used to separate a mixture.

ex: water, alcohol.
• With capillary action the solvent will move up to filter paper.
• Movement of a solvent will bring together component that are
separated from the mixture.
• Every component that are separated will move to several velocity
• The moving components are depend on :
a. Solubility solute in solvent
b. Intermolecule forces
c. Pore size of filter paper
d. Size of solute
At the end of process, components that are separated will emerge
to different distance on filter paper.
Rf values are used to identification of each the component.
 The retention factor, or Rf, is defined as the distance traveled by the
compound divided by the distance traveled by the solvent

The Rf value of a compound in a particular solvent

system is constant under identical conditions of the
experiment,
For example, ife.g. - Spot Detection:
a temperature, pH, etc.
compound travels 2.1 Color spot  observed by naked eye
cm and the solvent - Non – color spot  color reagent will
front travels 2.8 cm, give specific colors for different
the Rf is 0.75: compound.
Example : Ninhydrin – [Link]
 Iodine–alkaloid
 Thin layer chromatography(TLC)
• Overview of TLC
 TLC—one form of solid-liquid chromatography
 Adsorbent—solid phase; it won’t dissolve in the associated liquid
phase
 Ex: Silica Gel (Si0 ) & Alumina (Al O )
2 2 3
 Eluting—liquid phase
 Solvated substances are spotted onto a TLC plate coated with the
adsorbent and allowed to elute up the plate by capillary action.
 Four Purposes of Performing TLC
 Isolation components in a mixture (preparative TLC)
 Assess purity (how many spots are present)
 Identify a substance (analytical TLC)
 Assess compound polarity
TLC Development Setup
• This technique manipulates POLARITY
• More polar substances bind strongly to the adsorbent and
elute SLOWER
• Less polar substances bind weakly to the adsorbent and elute
FASTER
Rf Value
 A given compound will always travel a fixed distance relative to
the distance the solvent travels
 This ratio is called the Rf value and is calculated in the
following manner:
. distance traveled by substance .


distance traveled by solvent front

TLC Visualization Methods
 Ultraviolet Light—some organic compounds illuminate or
fluoresce under short-wave UV light
 Iodine Vapor—forms brown/ yellow complexes with organic
compounds
 Fluorescent Indicators—compounds fluoresce when placed
under UV light
 Silver Nitrate Spray (for Alkyl Halides)—dark spots form
upon exposure to light.
• Prepation of slide: Adsorbent + Calcium sulfate (gypsum) + Water = thick slurry
• Spread, pouring, dipping and spraying done on glass, aluminum foil, or plastic.
» analytical TLC 0.1–0.25 mm
» preparative TLC around 1–2 mm
• 30 minutes at 110 °C. “Activation” and Stored over desiccant.
 Column chromatography
• It is used for the separation and isolation of different
constituents of extracts.
• Column chromatographic grade adsorbants of choice are
used are used for packing the column and various
organic solvents are used as eluting solvents.
• A glass column is used in this technique.
• Silica gel is used as a packing column.
• Sample applied on the top of the column, in such a way
that narrow band is formed, for further elution.
– In order to fractionate the components of varying solubility, the
gradient elution technique is followed.
• The column is subsequently eluted with various
proportions of solvents in the order of increasing
polarity.
• The fractions collected from the bottom are distilled to
recover the solvent .
 HPLC (High Performance Liquid
Chromatography)
• It utilises a column of packing material of particle of
small size and regular shape.
• As the column finely packed, pressure upto 5000 lb in-2
can be employed to achieve acceptable flow rate.
• This technique has advantages of quantitatively
analysing the components of the mixture at a high level
of resolution and sensitivity.
• The disadvantages of this method include the cost of
pump / detector / recorder / column and the requirement
of injecting only highly pure, particle free solution on
the column to avoid blockage and column.
 Primary Metabolites
• The various organised structures in cells, chloroplast,
mitochondria- play important role in metabolic
reactions.
• The growing seedlings, develop rich foliage which
produces large quantities of carbohydrates during
photosynthesis.
• During phase growth and differentiation, most of the
carbohydrates metabolised to meet the energy
requirements in metabolic process.
• They are also stored un the cells as energy reserve, as
polysaccharides, like starch.
• During metabolism of starch or monosaccharide's such
as glucose, carbohydrates are broken down to glycerates,
pyruvates and later to acetyl CoA which is finally
consumed by tricarboxylic acid cycle.
• Glycerates and pyruvates gives aliphatic and aromatic
amino acids.
• Pyruvates breakdown to acetyl CoA which produces
fixed oils and fats.
• All these primary products called as primary metabolites
because of their direct utilisation in biological system.
 Secondary metabolites
• During biosynthetic reactions, many by products of
metabolism are produced.
• The by products which do not have any primary function
in the plants and which are in fact secondary products of
metabolism are called as secondary metabolites.
• The secondary metabolites dependent on genetic.
• The secondary metabolites derived through one single or
mixed pathways, which gives many compounds.
• Eg: proteins, fixed oils and fats, alkaloids,
glycosides,glucosides, volatile oils, gums and mucilages,
tannins, resins etc.
Comparison of 1 & 2  Metabolites
• Major function of secondary metabolites in the plants:
1. The most common roles for secondary compounds in plants
are ecological roles that govern interactions between plants
and other organisms.
2. As toxic materials providing defense against predators like
Nicotine and other toxic compounds .
3. Are brightly colored pigments like anthocyanin that color
flowers red and blue, which attract pollinators and fruit and
seed, species.
4. Can give bad taste to protection from animals or insects.
 The building blocks
• The building blocks for secondary metabolites are
derived from primary metabolism.
• The number of building blocks needed is surprisingly
few.
• The most important building blocks employed in the
biosynthesis of secondary metabolites are derived from:
1. Acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA)
2. Shikimic acid
3. Mevalonic acid
4. 1-deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate
5. Amino acids
 1. Acetate pathway
• The form in which acetate is used in most of its important
biochemical reactions is acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA).
• Acetyl-CoA is formed by oxidative decarboxylation of the
glycolytic pathway product pyruvic acid.
• Important secondary metabolites formed from the
acetate pathway includes:
1. Phenols
2. Prostaglandins
3. Macrolide antibiotics
- Coenzyme A: present in all living cells that functions as an
acyl group carrier.
 2. Shikimate pathway
Shikimic acid is produced from a combination of
phosphoenolpyruvate, a glycolytic pathway intermediate,
and erythrose 4-phosphate from the pentose phosphate
pathway.
The shikimate pathway leads to a varietyNHof:
2

1. Phenols N
N

2. Cinnamic acid derivatives

O O H C CH
3 3
OH OH N N
RS O O O
3. Lignans N
H
N
H
OH
P
O
P
O
O
4. Alkaloids HO
HO
OHO
P
O
 3. Mevalonate pathway

• Mevalonic acid is itself formed from three

molecules of acetyl-CoA, but the mevalonate
pathway channels acetate into a different series of
compounds than does the acetate pathway.
• Terpenoids is the major produce of Mevalonate .
 4. Deoxyxylulose phosphate pathway

• Deoxyxylulose phosphate arises from a combination of

two glycolytic pathway intermediates, namely pyruvic
acid and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate.
• The mevalonate and deoxyxylulose phosphate pathways
are together responsible for the biosynthesis of a vast
array of terpenoid and steroid metabolites.
 5. Amino acids pathway

• Peptides, proteins, alkaloids and many antibiotics are

derived from amino acids.

• The aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine, and

tryptophan are themselves products from the shikimate
pathway.
Relatively few building blocks are routinely employed, and the
following list includes those most frequently encountered in
producing the carbon and nitrogen skeleton of a natural product
 Factors affecting Crude drug
I. Factors affecting cultivation
• Cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants takes
cognizance of plant habitats and climatic requirement
for their favorable growth.
1. Altitude, temperature and humidity
2. Rainfall or irrigation
3. Soil and soil fertilizers
4. Fertilizers
5. Pests and pest control
1. Altitude, temperature and humidity:
• Altitude is very important factor in cultivation of medicinal plants.

Plant Altitude (metres)

Tea 1000 – 1500
Cinchona 1000 – 2000
Camphor 1500 - 2000
• Temperature: It is affecting the plant growth. Excessive
temperature and frost also affect the quality of medicinal plants.
Plant Optimum temperature 0 F

Cinchona 60 -75
Coffee 55 – 70
Tea 70- 90
2. Rain fall or irrigation:
• Except xerophyte plants like aloe, acacia and few others, most of
the plants need either proper arrangement for irrigation or
sufficient rain fall.

3. Soil and Soil fertility:

• The capacity of soil to supply plant nutrients in quantities and
proportion required and provide a suitable medium for plant
growth I known as soil fertility.
• Soil makes chemical makeup and nutrients available to plants.
• Clay is the one of the highly weathered portion of soil, consisting
of fine particles. This provides soil adhesive and cohesive
properties and also holds plant nutrients with the result that
nutrients are not lost through leaching.
 Types Particle size (diameter)
Fine clay Less than 0.002 mm
Coarse clay or silt 0.002 to 0.02 mm
Fine sand 0.02 to 0.2 mm
Coarse sand 0.2 to 2.00 mm

4. Fertilizers:
• Chemical fertilizers: Plants are in need of 16 nutrient
elements for synthesizing various compounds.
• Primary nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
• Secondary nutrients are magnesium, calcium and sulphur
• Trace elements: copper, manganese, iron, boran,
molybdenum, silica, zinc.
• Manures: Farm yard manures( FYM / compost) . Castor seed
cake, poultry manures, neem and karanj seed cakes, vermi
compost.
5. Pest and pest control:
Types of pests
• Fungi and viruses, Insects, Weeds
• Non insect pests – birds, monkeys, rabbits, squirrels, pigs
Pest control:
• Mechanical method – Destruction of eggs, larvae, pupae
• Insecticide – Gammaxine, sodium arsenate, carbamates
• Fungicides – chlorophenols, antibiotics
• Herbicides – 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid, sulphuric acid.
 Biological Factors
1. Bacteria: cotton fibres are rendered brittle by bacterial attack
which makes the cotton wool objectionable and dusty
2. Moulds: the mycelium of delicate hyphae produces an
unpleasant mass of clinging particles in powdered drugs
3. Insects: they seem to attack all drugs but have preferences to
certain drugs as ginger, belladonna, kola, liquorice.
Insects which infest vegetable drugs include beetles, mites and
moths. They render drugs porous and powdery.
Methods to control insects
1. Heat treatment: it is the simplest method and is done by exposing the
drug to a temperature of 60-65 ̊ C
it is effective especially for insect eggs which are not affected by
insecticides
2. Fumigation: this is done by volatile insecticidal agents in closed areas e.g.
CCl4, CS2, CN. Most fumigants do not kill eggs of insects
It is advisable to repeat fumigation at intervals to obtain better results
3. Liming: liming of certain drugs as ginger, nutmeg to
protect against insect attack provides only partial
protection
4. Low temperature storage: this method is preferred
to fumigants and liming. Adult insects, pupae, larvae
and eggs are sometimes killed by very low
temperatures
5. Exposure to alternate periods of low and high
temperatures: frequently is more effective for killing
insects than a prolonged period of low temperature
exposure.
Rodents: they cause much spoilage of crude drugs
during storage, especially if wrapped in paper, cloth
or put in cardboard or wooden containers
– The presence of rodent's filth, excreta, hairs causes
rejection of the drug
Day-length

• Amount & intensity of light needed differs from herb-

herb
• Affects the amount of glycosides, alkaloids & volatile
oils produced
E.g. peppermint:
– Long day: menthone, menthol & menthofuran
traces
– Short day: menthofuran = main component
• Other spp: produce more active constituents at night
E.g. Nicotaina
Factors Cont…

• Collection
– Correct identification
– Time of collection:
» Stage of maturity and age
» Time of the year
» Time of the day
– Method of collection
 Factors Affecting Collection
Time of the year:
The plant may contain a substance in winter that is not
present in summer, or its amount varies
e.g. Rhubarb contains no anthraquinone in winter,
instead it contains anthranols, which in summer, are oxidized
to anthraquinones
Colchicum corm is free from bitterness and is devoid of the
alkaloid colchicine in autumn, hence is used in Austria as a
food, instead of potatoes. Bitterness starts to appear in spring
and early summer when it is used as a drug.
Collection Season
• Active constituents of herbs are affected by the seasons (due to
climate, rainfall, day-length etc)
• Medicinal plants should be therefore collected in the season in
which their active constituents are highest
 Developmental Age of Herb
• Different components are produced in varying amounts at different
developmental stages
– Vitamin C  Highest in rosehips just before maturity
– Camphor  accumulates therefore collected from older trees
– Alkaloids  highest in young seeds
– Young cloves  higher oil content than older cloves.
Harvesting of Herbs
• Roots & Rhizomes: collected when aerial parts are dried down (if
not – fleshy & difficult to dry)
• Bark: Damp weather
• Aerial parts – at flowering (active photosynthesis)
• Flowers e.g. clove – before fully expanded
• Fruits – vary, Fully ripe: Anise, Fennel
– Nearly ripe: cardamoms (Before seed dispersal),
Gums/Resins – dry weather
Factors Cont…
• Adulteration
• Adulterant is resembles the genuine drug in respect to its
morphological appearance.
– Adulterant: herb which does not conform to official
standards
– Usually practised when the herb is scarce or expensive
– Effects of Adulteration
• Inferiority
• Spoilage
• Admixture
• Sophistication
• Deterioration
• Substitution
 Inferior Herb Quality
• Leads to a sub-standard drug
– Results naturally (in nature)
– Ignorance/carelessness
– Collection of genuine material regardless of the time factor –
collecting herbs prior/after ideal time
• Collection at incorrect stage of development
E.g. Coriander – fully ripe fruits (should be nearly ripe),
clove (flowers are in bud)
• Collection of parts which are not medicinally valuable
E.g. Chamomile leaves
• Collection of incorrect herb (close resemblance to intended
herb)
• Imperfect preparation (not removing undesired parts e.g. cork
from ginger rhizome/incorrect drying conditions)
• Incorrect storage: E.g. volatile oils: cool, dry place in air tight
containers
Admixture
• When herbs of another species are added to the
medicinally valuable herb
• May be intentional
– OR
• Result of collection due to unskilled labour
– Presence of plant parts other than those allowed by the
definition E.g. excessive stalk
– Collection of foreign material (stones, dirt)
NOTE: Certain herbs may be legally mixed with inert or
other materials.
 Sophistication
• Addition of inferior material with the intention to decrease
medicinal action of herbs
E.g. Candle wax coloured yellow and being offered as Beeswax.
E.g. Addition of flour to powdered ginger with chillies for potency.
Substitution:
• Adding an allied drug, or one which is botanically different.
E.g. Digitalis thaspi for Digitalis purpurea
• Deterioration
– Physicochemical factors : moisture, heat, air and light
– Biological factors : fungi, bacteria, insects and rodents
• The different means for adulterating drugs are follows:
1. Replacement by exhausted drugs:
• This is particularly observed in some drugs such as cloves,
saffron, tea, fennel and ginger etc.
• These drugs are exhausted for their active constituents and reused
with genuine drugs after treatment
• Eg: Exhausted saffron coloured artificially.
2. Substitution with superficially similar but inferior drugs:
• The harvesting of cultivated drug, when it has not reached
minimum standard of quality, yields inferior drug.
• Eg: Clove by mother clove
• Saffron adulterated with dried flowers of carthamus
tinctorius
3. Substitution by artificially manufactured substitutes:
• Paraffin wax is tinged yellow and substituted for yellow bees wax
• While artificial invert sugar is mixed with honey
4. Substitution by substandard commercial varieties:
• Red chillies ( Capsicum frutescens) are substituted by capsicum
annum.
• Alexandrian senna substituted with Arabian senna.
5. Presence of organic matter obtained from the same plant:
• In this case advantage of similar colour, odour and constituents is
taken into consideration and other parts of the same plants are
added to genuine drug
• Eg: Clove are mixed with clove stalks.
 Physicochemical Factors
1. Moisture: moisture sometimes affects drugs
adversely through activating the enzymes (as in
cardiac glycosides).

2. Heat: rise of temperature up to 45 activates the

enzymes causing decomposition of active
constituents. Volatile oil containing drugs are also
affected by higher temperatures, their content
decreases.
1. Air: oxygen of air oxidizes certain constituents
of crude drugs, e.g. linseed and lemon oil, it
causes rancidity of fixed oils and resinification
of volatile oils.

2. Light: it affects drugs, especially those having

marked colours. e.g. yellow colour of Rhubarb
changes to reddish tint, white coloured
corollas turn brown.