  The high-resolution optical spectra of the two X-ray active binaries RS CVn
stars HD 113816 (IS Vir) and HD 119285 (V851 Cen) are analysed and their Na,
Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, Co and Ni contents determined. The analysis of IS Vir
and V851 Cen is performed with three different LTE methods. In the first one,
abundances are derived using measured equivalent widths and Kurucz LTE model
atmospheres as input for the MOOG software package. The input atmospheric
parameters and abundances are iteratively modified until (i) the Fe I
abundances exhibit no trend with excitation potential or equivalent width, (ii)
Fe I and Fe II average abundances are the same and (iii) Fe and Alpha elements
average abundances are consistent with the input values. The second method
follows a similar approach, but relies on the B-V and V-I colour indices to
determine the temperature. The third method relies on fitting the 6162 A Ca I
line wing profiles to derive the surface gravity. The reliability of these
methods is investigated in the context of single line RS CVn stars. It is shown
that the V-I photometric index gives, on a broader sample of stars,
significantly cooler estimates of the effective temperature than the B-V index.
All other approaches give results in good agreement with each other. The
analysis of IS Vir and V851 Cen results in both cases in their primaries being
giant stars of near-solar metallicity. Their parameters as derived with the
first method are respectively Teff = 4720 K, log g = 2.65, [Fe/H] = +0.04 and
Teff = 4700 K, log g = 3.0 and [Fe/H] = -0.13. In the case of V851 Cen the
derived iron content is significantly higher than a previous determination in
the literature. Both stars exhibit relative overabundances of several elements
(e.g. Ca) with respect to the solar mix.
