Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 1

1. ORGANISED DRUG
UNORGANISED DRUG
DRIED LATEX
DRIED JUICE
EXTRACTS
GUMS
MUCILAGE
RESINS
OLEO-RESINS
OLEO-GUM-RESINS
DR. ARUN MITTAL

2. Crude drug means - The drugs of natural origin (Plants, Animals & Minerals), which
have undergone no other process; except collection and drying.

3. ORGANISED DRUGS
ORGANISED DRUGS
 As the term indicates that these are organs of plants or animals
and are made up of cells or definite structures .
 They are also known as cellular drugs.
 These are solid in nature.
 Botanical or zoological terminology can be used to describe
these drugs.
 Microscopic characters are one of the important criteria for the
identification of organized drugs.
 Example: Digitalis, Cinchona, Clove, Jalap, Ephedra.

4. UNORGANISED DRUG
UNORGANISED DRUG
These are derived from parts of plant or animals by some
process of extraction and followed by purification , if
necessary. E.g. Juices, Extracts, Resins etc.
Unorganised drugs also known as acellular drugs as the
cellular structure is absent.
These are solid, semi solid, or liquid in nature. e.g. Oils,
Gums and Balsams.
Botanical or zoological terminology is inadequate to
describe them, but has to look for their physical characters,
such as density, viscosity, refractive index, optical rotation.
Chemical tests and physical standards are confirmatory
tests. E.g. Aloe, Opium, Castor oil, Agar, Pepsin etc.

6. DRIED LATEX
Latex is an emulsion or suspension in which the continuous phase is an
aqueous solution of mineral salts, proteins, sugars, tannins and alkaloids etc.
and the suspended particles are oil droplets, resins, gums, protein, starch etc.
It is generally white in colour and has turbidity ( White color turbidity in
Opium, but yellow colour Chelidonoum majus and red colour in Sanguinaria
canadensis).
They are produced in laticiferous tissues which may be: laticiferous cells,
laticiferous tubes and laticiferous vessels
Latex are obtained by incision into plants.
Example: Opium, Papaya

7. DRIED JUICE
In this, the incision are made with respective plant
part.
Then juicy material which oozes out, is collected and
dried.
Example fleshy leaves of aloes or tree stem of kino.

8. EXTRACTS
Extracts are prepared by evaporating aqueous decoction of
plant parts for example black catechu, Pale catechu, Agar etc.
or by animal sources like Gelatin.
In Pharmacognosy, extracts are prepared by extracting the plant
parts with water followed by concentrations, whereas
Pharmaceutical extracts are made by alcohol or hydroalcoholic
etc. and the drug is most exhaustively extracted with a solvent,
thereafter the solvent used for extraction evaporates again and
the solid residue is fed to a drying process.
Dried extract is a solid drug preparation that can be
incorporated into tablets, coated tablets and capsules.
Dried extracts have a moisture content of max. 5%.
Example: Olive leaves extract.

9. GUMS
Gums are abnormal products and obtained by making incision on plant.
They are amorphous, generally translucent and high molecular weight
compounds.
They are hydrophilic or hydrophobic in nature.
They have colloidal properties.
Gums are usually insoluble in alcohol and in other organic solvents.
They form viscous adhesive solution and jelly-like mass with water.
They consist of polyuronides (calcium, magnesium and potassium salt of
complex substances), which upon hydrolysis with dilute acids, yield a
mixture of sugars and organic acids.
The sugars are generally monosaccharides such as arabinose, xylose and
galactose.

10. GUMS
They liberates uronic acids (glucuronic acid and galacturonic acid)
after hydrolysis.
Mostly gum contains polyuronides in mixed composition by
glycosidic linkage between uronic acid and sugar molecules.
The trees and shurbs of various families like Leguminosae, Rutaceae,
Sterculiaceae & Combretaceae yields gums.
Example:- Tragacanth, Acacia
Gummosis:- The process of conversion of cell wall tissue into gum
in the presence of enzyme.

11. MUCILAGE
Mucilage are the normal cell constituents of high molecular weight
compounds, composed of mainly sulphuric acid esters of sugar.
These neither dissolves in water to form clear colloidal solutions but swells
nor precipitates by addition of alcohol.
Mucilages on hydrolysis yields sugar (galactose and arabinose) and sugar
acids (uronic acids).
Mucilage is often found in Epidermal leaf Cells (Senna), Seed coats
(Linseed, Psyllium), Roots (Marshmallow), Barks (Slippery elm).
Seaweed agar and carrageenan contains mucilage composed of salts of
sulphate esters of polysaccharides.

12. DIFFERENCE B/W GUMS &MUCILAGES

13. RESINS, OLEO-RESINS & OLEO-GUM-RESINS
Resins: are amorphous mixture of essential oils, oxygenated products of terpenes and
carboxylic acids, obtained as exudates from plants and considered as end product of
metabolism.
These are solid or semi solid amorphous products of complex chemical nature usually
insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvent like alcohol, volatile oils, fixed oils, benzene
and ether.
Resins are widely distributed plant kingdom, occurs in different secretory structures like
resin cells (Ginger), Schizo or Schizolysogenous ducts or cavities (Pinus sp.) and in
glandular hairs (Cannabis). These are present in plant kingdom mainly in seed bearing plants
whereas absent in thallophytes.
These soften upon heating and finally melt to produce clear adhesive fluids.
Uses:-Antiseptic, Carminative, Cathartic, Expectorant, Stomachic, Anti-tumour.
Oleoresins: These are homogenous mixtures of resins and volatile oils and depending on
the amount of volatile oil these may exists as liquid, solid or semisolid. e.g. Copaiba, Canada
balsam, Capsicum, Ginger and Turpentine
Oleo-gum-resins: These are naturally occurring combinations of volatile oil, gum and resin.
e.g. Myrrh, Guggal, Asafoeitida, Olibanum and Gamboage.