Pharmacopoeial Analysis of Inulin-Containing Medicinal Plant Raw Materials and Drugs

Background: Today, there are some unresolved issues and discussions concerning inulin quantitative determination in medicinal plant raw materials (MPRM). MPRM containing polyfructans or fructosans (inulin and others) are rather complex multicomponent matrixes with many interacting compounds. The article discusses the prospects for further standardization of inulin-containing pharmacopoeial MPRM that include, in addition to polysaccharides (inulin), other biologically active compounds with pharmacological activity. Materials and Methods: Different types of search tools such as Google scholar, Google, scientific literature, normative documentation of Russian Federation (State Pharmacopoeia of Russian Federation IV edition and others) electronic databases such as e-Library, Scopus, Web of Science, Pubmed had been searched and data obtained. Results: The pharmacopoeial spectrophotometric procedures of inulin determination in the Russian Federation are approved in a version that does not fully satisfy modern standardization criteria. Regulatory changes required in the near future. Conclusion: Undoubtedly, to determine inulin quantitatively, it is necessary to modify the existing spectrophotometric procedures and introduce an additional alternative, more specific HPLC-RID (or similar) ones.