BULK AND SURFACE PROPERTIES OF TIN BASED HERBAL DRUG DURING ITS PREPARATION: FINGERPRINTING OF THE ACTIVE PHARMACEUTICAL CONSTITUENT

The Tin based herbal drug (Vangaparpam – a Siddha system of Medicine) has been widely used for the treatment of urinogenital infection and Arthritis. It was prepared by ten sequential stages of calcinations of the medicinally purified tin along with Aloe vera extract. In this study we analysed samples from various stages of preparation using analytical techniques viz., Fourier Transformed Infrared spectroscopy, Powder X ray Diffraction, X ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Energy Dispersive X- ray spectroscopy , Scanning Electron Microscopy, to create fingerprints required for the optimisation of the process parameters, detection of toxic impurities and crystal morphology of the Active Pharmaceutical ingredient during the formulation of drug for which reports are not available. Upon analysis of the samples of various stages of calcinations, we found that there was a programmed heating the medicinally purified tin metal was converted to crystalline tin oxide in the tetragonal phase at the first stage of calcinations itself along with a small percentage of therapeutically important elements of Calcium, Iron, and Potassium. Further calcinations steps brought interplay of nano and sub-micro sized particles for optimum bioavailability of the drug.