ABSTRACT
Mössbauer spectroscopy is an analytical tool to investigate the oxidation state and distortion in chemical bonds around iron moiety of iron containing pharmaceutical compounds (allopathic, homeopathy and ayurvedic). In the present work, Mössbauer spectroscopic studies of different parameters like; isomer shift, quadrupole splitting and line width in different unexpired and expired pharmaceutical compounds have been recorded. Changes in the value of these parameters have been observed according to nature of compound. Line width and quadrupole splitting values of the outdated allopathic samples containing ferrous ascorbate (C18H21FeO18), ferrous fumarate (C4H2FeO4) and ferric hydroxide Fe(OH)3 increased significantly as compared to respective fresh samples. This is attributed due to the weakening and distortion of bonds around iron moiety prior to change in the valence state. Ayurvedic and homeopathic iron supplements exhibited remarkable consistency of Mössbauer parameters even after long period of storage owing to the presence of stoichiometrically pure and chemically stable ferric oxide (α-Fe2O3) in loh bhasam and ferrous phosphate Fe3(PO4)2 in biochemic tablets.