Chemical standardization of mega sanjeevi maathirai, a herbometallic siddha drug

Siddha system of medicine believes herbometallic formulation to be potent than herbal formulation alone. So far, fewer studies have been conducted on standardization of such preparations. Mega sanjeevi mathirai (MSM), a traditional Siddha herbometallic drug was prepared as per the procedures mentioned in a siddha literature. The chemical finger print was taken by using modern analytical techniques like Inductive coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR). In addition, the particle size of mega sanjeevi mathirai was also assessed by High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscope (HR SEM). The results confirmed the absence of lead, arsenic and cadmium. Reports showed the presence of inorganic elements such as mercury (2.96ppm), sodium (6.26ppm), potassium (4.22ppm), calcium (15.10ppm), phosphorous (3.63ppm) and sulphur (6.25ppm). FTIR confirmed the presence of organic moieties as follows; IR (KBr, cm -1), 3399 (-OH structure of -COOH group), 1716 (C=O structure of carboxylic acid), 1618 (C=N structure), 1214 (Asymmetric C-O-C structure), 1047 (Symmetric C-O-C structure). The range of particle size varies between 3-10 μ. These findings could be used as a chemical fingerprint for future reference of Mega sanjeevi mathirai in chemical standardization.