[highschoolstudent123]

My capsule likely contains 2 compounds, both in powder form. 1 is an excipient (aka filler) which should be cellulose, the second is a medicine. Each capsule contains, approximately, 300mg filler versus 15mg of medicine.

What chemical test should I run to confirm the presence of the medicine in the capsule? I was thinking of running a 1H NMR with chloroform as the solvent, but can it still be done given that the filler is insoluble in chloroform? I am thinking about getting the lab to dissolve it in chloroform and analyse the filtrate. How advisable is this, and what better alternatives are there?

I am asking this because I am worried that I got a bunk drug. I bought it from a chinese supplier because they were selling it for cheap. Name is Xian Sonwu, not sure how great their reputation is, but I originally trusted them since I saw that multiple researchers (with papers published to prestigious journals like nature) have bought and used their chemicals.

[Borek]

There is no universal method, best approach typically depends on the identity of the active substance.

[CarbonSi]

     The purpose of trying to know the structure of the API in the capsule is not mentioned here. But if the 'medicine' molecule is considered to have simple structure. Then 'reverse engineering' the capsule will give you structural information of the medicine.
      Reverse engineering is always expensive. It is usually done by LC-MS or GC-MS.
 

[marquis]

First question,is it an over the counter med, or is it is or regulated medication? If it is an over the counter med, then the analysis might be nevessary.  If it is a regulated med, then that might be done in some extra steps. Find out the regulated med name and history. There should be the drug name in that history.  You might have to go to some research to get the information.   But a thorough search should give you much of the info you need. 

[Corribus]

A quick and dirty way could be to acquire a Raman or FTIR-ATR spectrum of the tablet. This would not require any purification of the active ingredient from the excipient. The active ingredient should have some fingerprint peaks that could be identified in the spectrum to at least confirm the active ingredient is there. This will tell you nothing about purity, ofc.

If the excipient is not soluble in chloroform, then I would do an extraction of the active ingredient with chloroform. Grind a tablet up, mix with a little chloroform, agitate, then filter off the precipitate. Then drop your chloroform solution on the ATR-FTIR crystal (or Raman platform) and let the chloroform evaporate, then you can identify the active ingredient without complicating peaks from the excipient. This could be done in 15 minutes easily, if you have the instruments of course.