A developing method for preconcentration and determination of Pb, Cd, Al and As in different herbal pharmaceutical dosage forms using chelex-100

Abstract

A simple, rapid and efficient method of preconcentration and determination of selected toxic heavy metals from herbal phytopharmaceutical product matrices using inductively coupled plasma and flame atomic absorption spectrometry after preconcentration with chelating resin (chelex-100) was developed. In this study, 24 samples representing phytopharmaceutical remedies in different dosage forms such as tablet, capsule, suppository, syrup and tea bag that are available in Pharmaceutical Jordanian companies were investigated for the presence of Pb, Cd, Al and As to establish their normal concentrations range and consider their levels according to some worldwide permissible limit guidelines. The %relative standard deviation was < 5%. Pb, Cd, and Al concentrations were ranged (0.01–30.84 μg/g), (0.001–0.85 µgg−1) and (1.81–215.19 µgg−1), respectively, whereas As level was below the detection limit. The percent contribution of raw material heavy metal content for tablet dosage forms was in the average of 88.39%, 79.85% and 83.13% for Pb, Cd and Al, respectively.