IDENTIFICATION OF PSYCHOACTIVE NICOTINE COMPOUND IN COMMONLY USED INDIAN TOOTH PASTE PRODUCTS

Abstract

Nicotine is a nitrogen-containing alkaloid produced by a small number of plants, including the tobacco plant. Although the use of tobacco products as dentifrices is still popular in some parts of India, Indian law prohibits the use of nicotine in dentifrices. Nicotiana tobacco, the type of nicotine found in tobacco plants, is a nightshade family member and has a potential to cause oral lesions and other oral hazard in a few individuals. In the present study, we focussed to find the quantitative limits of Nicotine in toothpaste varieties. Ten brands for ordinarily utilized toothpaste were assessed by Agarwal and Rajagopal method for extraction and seclusion of nicotine from toothpowder. Another most proposed method for the practical and reliable detection of alkaloids belong to pyrrolidine group -test by Wagner reagent (iodine-potassium-iodide solution). Our results demonstrated the presence of nicotine content in a few commercial brands tested like Closeup, Pepsodent, Colgate and Himalaya. Our approach involved in demonstrating a simplified method to analyse nicotine compounds in tooth pastes by expressing titrations values using aqueous solutions using Wagner reagent. Further safety studies need to be focussed in validating a simplistic and rapid method in monitoring and expressing the permissible limits of nicotine in commonly available tooth paste varieties.