Pharmacy Introduction1

Ans.

1. Pharmacy: It is the science and arts of preparing and compounding drugs for the purpose of patient administration. It covers the knowledge of identification, selection, preservation, combination, analysis and standardization of drug.
2. Forensic Pharmacy: It covers the legal laws controlling trade and profession of pharmacy.
3. Pharmacist: Authorized and qualified person to practice pharmacy.
4. Pharmaceutist: Person skilled in pharmaceutics.
5. Pharmaceutics: Science and art dealing with manufacture of drug.
6. Pharmacology: Deals with sources, action, fate of drug in living organisms and their toxicities.
7. 2Pharmacognosy: Deals with source, cultivation, identification, botanical characteristics, chemical constituents of drugs of plant and animal origin.
8. Materia Medica: Obsolete terminology, now, deals with botanical and chemical properties of drugs and their therapeutic uses.
9. Pharmacopeia: Published book by recognized authority of any country, containing list of accepted drugs, formulae for preparation, average dose, description and test for identification, purity and potency. Drugs included in pharmacopeia are called officials like IP, BP, rest of the drugs are ‘nonofficials’.
10. Drugs: It is a substance or mixture of substances used for diagnosis, cure mitigation or prevention of a disease in men or animals.

Ans. An alkaloid is complex nitrogenous substances, basic in nature due to presence of tertiary nitrogen, forms salts with acids. Insoluble in water but their salts are soluble, can be precipitated from their solution by heavy metals, alkalies, bromides, iodides, tannins and picric acid benzoates. Its name ends in “ine” viz. atropine, morphine, codeine, etc. Alkaloid may be tested by—

1. Mayer's reagent (mercuric potassium iodide solution).
2. Dragendorff's reagent (solution of potassium bismuth iodide).
3. Wagner's reagent (solution of iodine with potassium).
4. Reineckate reagent (solution of chromium ammonium thiocyanate).
5. Marme's reagent (solution of potassium cadmium iodide).
6. Sonnenschein's reagent (solution of phosphomolybdic acid).

Ans. It can be tested by Molisch reagent. In a test tube take 1ml of test solution, add 5 drops of 10% naphthol in alcohol. Pour 1ml of conc. H₂SO₄ by the side of the test tube. A red ring changing to purple (Molisch reaction).

Ans. It can be tested by—

1. Libermann-Burchard reaction: Solution with chloroform, acetic anhydride and conc. H₂SO₄ gives blue color.
2. Hess's reaction: Solution with chloroform and conc.H₂SO₄ gives red color.
3. Hirschsohn's reaction: Solution with trichloroacetic acid and water gives red color.