Review on application of spectrophotometry UV-Vis for identifying BKO in Jamu

WHO reports that herbal medicines are used by more than 75% of the world's population, especially in developing countries, in an effort to maintain health. Jamu is an Indonesian cultural heritage made from herbal ingredients which has a great opportunity to become an export commodity. However, Indonesia is in the top 20 biopharmaceutical exporting countries in the world with a market share still below 0.70%. The main strategy that producers of jamu must undertake is to improve the quality of jamu to maintain the reputation this product and enhance global competitiveness. However, in fact, the presence of pharmaceutical chemicals drug material or in Indonesia it is called "Bahan Kimia Obat” abbreviated as BKO in jamu is still found, this of course reduces the quality and image of Indonesia, so as a consequence there is a need to develop a reliable method to identify BKO ingredients using spectrophotometry UV-Vis. This review highlighted some articles about analytical methods spectrophotometric UV-Vis comprise sample preparation, types of effective solvents, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of identifying BKO, namely diclofenac sodium, sibutramine hydrochloride, paracetamol, and dexamethasone which are applied for jamu safety studies. Articles were searched online over a period of 10 years, using keywords on trusted websites. The UV-Vis spectrophotometry analysis method reviewed can be applied for daily analysis to identify jamu containing BKO such as sodium diclofenac, sibutramine hydrochloride, paracetamol, and dexamethasone. The solvents that provide effective results in the analysis are ethanol for sodium diclofenac, dexamethasone, and paracetamol, while sibutramine hydrochloride uses aquadest as the solvent.