Adulterated pharmaceutical chemicals in botanical dietary supplements: novel screening approaches

Abstract

AbstractThe increased availability and use of botanical dietary supplements (BDS) has been accompanied by an increased frequency of adulteration of these products with pharmaceutical chemicals. These adulterated products are a worldwide problem, and their consumption poses health risks to consumers. The main focus of this paper is to highlight novel screening approaches utilized in the detection of adulterants in BDS marketed for different therapeutic purposes. We summarize spectroscopic methods involving near-infrared, infrared, Raman, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as feasible and interesting in-field screening tools for the analysis of suspected products (adulterated or not) before being sent to a laboratory for deeper inspection. In addition, the new approaches based on chromatographic methods such as liquid chromatography-circular dichroism, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, thin layer chromatography-surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and thin layer chromatography-mass spectrometry are discussed and reviewed. Novel analysis strategies from targeted analysis to post-targeted and non-targeted analysis allowing simultaneous determination of the number of multiclass pharmaceuticals are discussed.