Recently Investigated Natural Gums and Mucilages as Pharmaceutical Excipients: An Overview

Table 1

Preliminary confirmatory tests for dried gums and mucilage.

Test	Observation	Inferences
Molisch’s test: (100 mg dried mucilage powder + Molisch’s reagent + conc. H2SO4 on the side of a test tube)	Violet green colour observed at the junction of the two layers	Carbohydrate present
Ruthenium test: Take a small quantity of dried mucilage powder, mount it on a slide with ruthenium red solution, and observe it under microscope.	Pink colour develops	Mucilage present
Iodine test: 100 mg dried mucilage powder + 1 mL 0.2 N iodine soln.	No colour observed in solution	Polysaccharides present (starch is absent)