Quantitative estimation of iron in Unani herbo-mineral products employing ion exchange chromatography

The ion exchange chromatography was conducted on Unani Syrup preparation of iron (Sharbat-e-faulad), manufactured by the three different pharmaceutical companies and compared with the standard Fesovit spansules. The ion exchanger was antimony (v) arsenosilicate, which is of crystalline nature and found to be highly selective for iron. The results indicate that the syrup manufactured by Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories, Delhi (SFH) contains 96.11 + 3.5 mg/10 ml. The sample of Rex (U&A) Remedies Pvt. Ltd., Delhi (SFR) contains 78.4 + 1.5 mg/10 ml and Dwakhana Tibbia College, Aligarh (SFD) contains 30.37 + 1.8 mg/10 ml iron. The Fesovit spansules (FS) manufactured by Glaxo-Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Bangalore contains 47.7 + 0.9 mg per spansule. SFH comprises highest content of iron and most suitable for severe iron deficiency anaemia. SFR is the standard sample and negligible discrepancy noted in the content of iron claimed by manufacturer, whereas in SFD 25.308% less iron was determined in comparison to claimed amount of iron. Standard operational procedure (SOP) is required to be implemented for standard preparations of traditional medicines.