Physico-Chemical Methods for the Separation and Estimation of Vitamin A in Fish Oils and other Pharmaceuticals

Abstract

A review of the different physico-chemical procedures, including colorimetric methods employed in the determination of vitamin A in pharmaceuticals (with greater emphasis on the Carr-Price reaction, involving the antimony-trichloride and glycerol-dichlorohydrin reagent)and the spectrophotometric technique, has been presented. Need for further work with regard to the determination of this vitamin A in fish liver oils and multivitamin formulations has been stressed; for its purification and estimation, chromatographic techniques involving column, partition and paper chromatography, have been reviewed. It has been recommended that Indian fish liver oils should be characterised in terms of the biologically active vitamin A; collaborative research effort to achieve this has been suggested.