International Journal of CURRENT PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH

ISSN- 0975-1491 Vol 2, Issue 4, 2010

ResearchArticle

PHYSICOCHEMICALANALYSISOFGANDHAGAMBEFOREANDAFTERPURIFICATION

*RAJALAKSHMIP**ABEETHAMAND***DEVANATHANR
*API,**JRF,***APIICarism,SastraUniversity,Thanjavur Received:15Jun2010,RevisedandAccepted:16July2010 ABSTRACT Sulphur, commonly referred as Gandhagam in Siddha literature, has a wide range of therapeutic efficacy. It is used in the preparations like Rasayanam,Pills,MezhuguandBhasmasandChenduramasamajor/oneoftheingredients.BeforeitsusageasamedicinerawSulphurissubjected topurificationmethodsinordertoremovetheimpuritiesaswellastoincreasethepotencyofthemedicineaspertheSiddhaliterature. In the present study, Purification of Sulphur, with milk as a detoxifying agent for thirty times was done. The percentage of Sulphur before (I sulphur), during the process ( II sulphur) and after purification(III sulphur) were analyzed. The heavy metal analysis was done to trace the presenceofLeadandMercuryduringtheprocess.Asmilkwasusedaspurifyingagentthelevelsofcalciumandphosphoruswerealsoestimated.An attemptwasmadetoproveefficacyofmilkinremovingtheimpuritiesofGandhakamandestimationofpurifiedGandhakamwasdonewiththehelp ofmoderntechniqueslikephysicochemicalanalysisandheavymetalanalysis. Keywords:Physiochemicalanalysis,Sulphur INTRODUCTION Sulphur is a crystalline, nonmetal used in the preparations like Rasayanam,Pills,Mezhugu,ParmamandinChenduramasamajor/ one of theingredientsinSiddhatherapeutics. The namekandagam refers odour in Tamil literature. It possess bitter and Astringent tastes. Traditionally Sulphur is known with other names like Gandagam, Kaarizhai Natham, Parai natham, Parai Veerayam, Atheetha prakasam, Beejam, Selvi vindhu, Sakthi, Sakthi peesam, Chenduraa thrrathi, Theviuram, Natham, Narram, Parai natham, Ponnvarni,Rasassronitham. In Siddha system sixty four types of poisons are mentioned for therapeutic purpose. Pirappu kandagam, Vaipu kandagam, Kozhi thalai kandagam, VanaKendhi vaipu, are some of the varieties. Pirappu kandagam, is the naturally occuring sulphur from which remaining were prepared by subjecting it to purification. Kozhi thalaikandagam,nameitselfsuggeststhatitresemblesredcolorof thecrownofCock.BasedonthecolorSulphurisfourtypes 1. 2. 3. Whitesulphurisusedtocurealldiseases. ParrotnoseredcolourKandhagamisusedforcalcinationsof ninemetals. GoldencolorKandagamresemblesthecolourofGooseberry, easilyreactswithMercurytoformKajjali,isusedin therapeutics. BlackKandagamsimilarwiththeCrowblackcolourisarare varietyusedasarejuvenator. diseases,Poisonousbites,chronicveneraldiseases,Rheumaticfever, Diarroheaandrespiratorysymptoms. Dose: 650mg1.9gmedicine; ForLaxativepurpose4.2g12.6g MATERIALSANDMETHODS Commonherbal decoctionsusedforthepurification of theSulphur asper Siddhaliterature areaqueousextract of Tamarindusindicus, Sour rice water, Sour butter milk, Mushroom juice, cows milk and stem juice of Musa paradisiaca. The paste of Lawsonia innermis mixedwithcurdisalsousedforpurificationofsulphur.Purification withthecowsmilkistakenforthepresentstudy. Method Stage wise purification method with the photographs was mentionedbelow: Quantitysufficientofbutterwastakenmelted.Then250gofsulphur was taken and melted at a temperature of 60700C. The above meltedsulphurispouredintoaearthencontainer containingcows milk.TheSulphurporedintothemilkisallowedittocoolonitsown. The above process is repeated for thirty times by taking the fresh milkeachtime. The purified Sulphur after cooling is filtered and washed with the normalwater. An amount of 12 gms of Sulphur before, middle and after the purification process were collected for the chemical analysis. ( i.e I stage before purification (raw material), 15 th stage i.e during the processand30thstagei.eafterpurific Thecollectedsamplesweresubjectedtothefollowinginvestigations like EstimationofSulphur EstimationofCalcium

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Innature,bothplantandanimaloriginsubstances containSulphur in apermisiable quantity such as leafyvegetables,egg,meat, garlic etc. Reactivity An easy bond making with the metallic ions i.e the reactivity of suphur,makesituniquetoactasaprecursorinthepreparationof chenduram. Modeofaction Sulphur is a laxative, it enhances bile juice secretion, alterative, antiseptic and diaphoretic. It is excreted through duct glands like sweat, urine, mammary glands. It enhances secretions of skin, bronchiolesandrectum. Therapeuticuses Sulphur is mainly used therapeutically in Eighteen types of Leucoderma, Flatulence, Hepatomegaly, Ascites, Gastric ulcer, Eye

EstimationofPhosphorous Results Physicochemicalanalysis ResultsaregiveninTable1

Rajalakshmietal. IntJCurrPharmRes,Vol2,Issue4,3235 Physicalchangesobservedduringpurificationprocess Thecolourofthesulphurbeforepurificationwasbrightyellowand shinyinnature.Duringtheprocessitlossesitsluster,softnessand become easily fragile. Finally, pale yellow coloured substance with brittlenaturewasobservedattheendoftheprocess. The criteria by which the sulphur is purified is decided by the disappearance of its smell during the process of purification. The raw sulphur will have a foul smell which will be lost during the processingwithbutterandmilk,isanimportantparameterfollowed bythetraditionalsiddhapractitioners. It had an irritable taste during the I stage of process where as the final processed sulphur was tasteless. Obtaining a tastelessness substance finally after the purification is also an important marker considered by traditional Siddha practitioners during the purification of sulphur. With theadvancedtechnologiesthe sulphur wasfurtherinvestigatedtocheckthevalidationofsulphurspurity. Chemicalinvestigations QuantificationofSulphur Theaboveresultsdenotethepurityofsulphurateverystageaswell as a steady increase of purification in the amount of sulphur.

Fig.1:Butter

Fig.2:MeltingSulphur

Fig.3:PouringmeltedSulphur

Fig.4:SolidifiedSulphur Table1:Physicochemicalanalysis

Percentageof Elements Sulphur% Calcium Phosphorous Mercury Lead

ISulphur (before purification) 39.132 140 0.1453 0.082 0.1157

IISulphur (duringthe process 46.0201 140 0.1828 0.0086 0.3912

IIISulphur (after purification 86.5871 120 0.2260 0.0094 0.4235

IMilk 1.8600 160 0.1445 0.0084 0.4209

IIMilk 3.8937 140 0.1943 0.0066 0.5741

IIIMilk 4.2136 100 0.2383 0.0058 0.3378

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Rajalakshmietal. IntJCurrPharmRes,Vol2,Issue4,3235

Graph110 Estimationofheavymetals Mostly, heavy metals are considered to be the impurities of drug which may inhibitthe efficiency of thedrug.Safety ofthe drug can bevalidatedbyestimatingtheheavymetalslikemercuryandlead. Theheavymetalspresentinsulphurwereestimatedwiththehelpof AtomicAbsorptionSpectroscopy. Estimationofcalcium As milk is taken as a purifying agent and is rich in calcium the estimation of Calcium was under taken. Generally, calcium is a reducingagent,usedforreducingmetals.Inthisstudycalciumplays asignificantroleasareducingagent.

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Rajalakshmietal. IntJCurrPharmRes,Vol2,Issue4,3235 Alossinquantityofcalciumwasobserved(byflamephotometry)at the final stage of purification. It decreased from 160 ppm to 100 ppminmilkusedfordetoxificationprocess.Itmaybeattributedto thechelatingactivityofcalciumduringthepurificationprocess.The levels of calcium in purified sulphur were also less as compared to thatoftheinitialsulphurwhichshowsthepurityofsulphur. EstimationofPhosphorous Phosphorous is another active ingredient of milk. Levels of phosphorous were studied using titrametric analysis. It was found thatphosphorouslevelhassteadilyincreasedfrom0.145%0.226 % in sulphur. During purification process, phosphorous levels increased both in milk and sulphur. Even though, it doesnt have detoxifying property as such that of calcium it helps as an additive nutrientfortheprocessedsulphur. Thus, phosphorous provides to be a supplement during the purificationofsulphur. CONCLUSION InthepresentstudythedetoxificationofSulphurwiththemilkwas donetoremovethetoxicsubstancesandalsoenableittousesafely in therapeutics. During the purification process the purity percentage of Sulphur was found increased. The milk as a detoxifyingagentwassuccessfulinremovingtoxicagentsfrom the processeddrugthusenhancingthepotencyofthedrug. As milk is taken for the study which is rich in calcium and phosphorus the impact of milk constituents on sulphur during the process was studied and they also observed in permissiable amounts after the purification. Disappearance of Foul smell of Sulphur which was observed initially andincreasedtendency of its fragile nature were also an important parameters to confirm that GandhakawaspurifiedasperSiddhaliterature. ThechemicalanalysisofthestagewisesamplesofSulphuraswellas milk showed an increasing percentage of sulphur, decreasing percentage of Mercury and Lead finally, with in permissible quantity after the purification. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set a maximum permissible level of 1 part of methyl mercuryinamillionparts(1ppm).Themercurycontentduringthe 35 2. 3. initial stage of purification was 0.082 ppm which was significantly reducedto0.00942ppmduringthefinalpurification. Duringpurificationofsulphurlevelsofleadsteadilyincreasedfrom 0.1157 ppm to 0.4225 ppm. Yet the values were well within the safetylimitsasprescribedbyFDA.(10ppm).Fromtheabovewecan concludethatmilkwhichisusedasdetoxifyingagentasperSiddha literature was able to get rid of the impurities if remains also are withinthepermissiablequantity. As sulphur occurs in the natural form combined with the other metals it is subjected to purification to get rid of the impurities. In the present study purification was undertaken with the milk as a detoxifyingagentonecanconcludewiththeabovethatmilkwhichis used as a detoxigying agent is suitable for the purification of Gandhakamtogetridoftheimpurities. REFERENCES 1. Thyagaraja Mudaliyar, GunapadamThaathu Jeeva vaguppu, IIIrdEdn,IndianMedicalAssociation,1981. Jeyaraj,SiddhaToxicology,IstEd.DepartmentofIndianSystem ofMedicineandHomeopathy,1999. KuppusamyMudaliyar,SiddhaVaithiyathiratu.VanCromphaut SJ,DewerchinM,HoenderopJG,StockmansI,VanHerckE,Kato S, Bindels RJ, Colle D Carmeliet P, Bouillon R, Carmeliet G Duodenal calcium absorption in vitamin D receptorknockout mice:functionalandmolecularaspects.ProcNatlAcadSciUS A.2001Nov6;98(23):133249. Sang Hyun Kim and Raghubir P. Sharma Mercuryinduced apoptosis and necrosis in murine macrophages: role of calciuminduced reactive oxygen species and p38 mitogen activated protein kinase signaling Toxicology and Applied PharmacologyVolume196,Issue1,1April2004,4757. Title 21Food and Drugs Chapter IFood and Drug Administration Department of Health and Human Services Subchapter DDrugs for Human Use Code of federal regulations. United States Food and Drug Administration. Retrievedon1May2007. PreventingLeadExposureinYoungChildren:AHousingBased Approach to Primary Prevention of Lead Poisoning (2004) RecommendationsfromtheAdvisoryCommitteeonChildhood LeadPoisoningPrevention,20.

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