Screening and quantification of phytochemicals in the leaves and flowers of Tabernaemontana heyneana Wall. - a near threatened medicinal plant

Abstract

The present investigation is aimed to screen and quantify the phytochemicals present in the leaves and flowers of Tabernaemontana heyneana Wall. (Family-Apocynaceae). Various phytochemicals distributed in the leaves and flowers of this plant were extracted by shake flask method, screened and quantified by standard protocols. The phytochemical analysis of different solvent extracts of the leaves and flowers revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, phytosterols, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, reducing sugars and saponins. Phlobatannins was absent in both the parts. The chloroform extract of leaf and flower contained 58.5± 1.5 mg/g tissue and 1.5± 0.5 mg/g tissue of phytosterols, respectively. Alkaloid content was found to be 14.6± 1.7 mg/g tissue and 7.9± 0.85 mg/g tissue, in leaf and flower, respectively. Flavonoid content was observed to be 4.3± 0.17 mg/g tissue and 1.2± 0.13 mg/g tissue, in both the parts, respectively. Most of the phytochemicals were found in the leaves and flowers. High content of sterols, moderate distribution of alkaloids and low amount of flavonoids were observed in both the parts. Moreover, studies proved that the methanol and ethanol were the best solvents for the extraction of the phytochemicals.