Isolation Evaluation and Estimation of Calcium Citrate from Herbal Source

Abstract

In the modern organic chemistry, various methods are now a day widely utilized for isolation of different organic compounds. From the ancient era to the present the various methods of extraction like Maceration, Percolation, Decoction and Soxhlet extraction are widely utilized. Calcium citrate also known as calcium salt of citric acid which is a member of tricarboxylic acid derivatives used occasionally as food ingredients and preservatives but it is well known source of calcium and utilized as calcium supplement. Thus the present study was initiated with aim to isolate, evaluate and estimate the calcium citrate from lemon juice by using decoction method. Calcium chloride was used for the crystallization of calcium isolated from lemon juice. Theoretical and practical yield of calcium citrate after isolation were determined. For further evaluation of isolated calcium citrate basic identification tests like solubility, melting point (MP), loss on drying (LOD) and assay of calcium citrate were done. The present study further proceeded to confirmatory evaluation by UV-Vis spectroscopy and thin layer chromatography (TLC). The basic identification tests found the presence of calcium citrate with M.P in the range of 119°C-121°C with percentage practical yield of 24.02%w/w and LOD was 9.40%. The UV-Vis absorbance shown at λ-Max 0.036 and TLC reported Rf value 0.68 and 0.53 using various polar, semipolar and non polar solvents. As ample amount of calcium citrate was isolated from herbal source i.e. lemon juice, the study reached to the conclusion that instead of synthetic sources, the herbal source can be very useful and economical approach for the isolation of calcium citrate from lemon juice.