Humic acid from Shilajit – a physico-chemical and spectroscopic characterization

Shilajit is a blackish–brown exudation, consisting of organic substances, metal ions and minerals, from different formations, commonly found in the Himalayan region (1000–3000 m) from Nepal to Kashmir. Shilajit can also b e collected t hroughout the mountain region s i n Afghani stan, Bhutan, China, Bajkal, throughout Ural, Cauc asus and Altai mountains also, at altitudes be tween 1 000 to 5000 m. The major phy siological acti on of shilaj it has be en attributed to t he presence of b ioactive dibenzo-α-pyrones together with humic and fulvic acid s, which act as carrier molecu les for the active ingredient s. In this work, the aim was to extract humic acid from Shilajit from various sources and characterised these humic acids based on their physicochemical properties, elemental analysis, UV/Vis and FTIR spectra, X-ray diffraction pattern and DSC thermograms. The spectral fea tures obtaine d fro m UV/Vi s, FTIR, XRD an d DSC studies for sa mples of different origins sh owed a distinct similarity amongst the mselves and i n c omparison to soil hu mic acids. The surfacta nt properties of th e extract ed ful vic acid s were investigated by deter mining th e effect of increa sing c oncentration on the surf ace ten sion of water. The stu dy demonstrated t hat hu mic a cids extra cted from shilajit inde ed po ssessed surfactant properties.