Qualitative and Quantitative Determination of Phytochemical Contents of Muntingia calabura

Muntingia calabura, a well-known medicinal plant has been documented to possess various bioactive molecules from the Muntingaceae family. In the present study, we investigated the phytochemical screening by qualitative and quantitative analysis from leaf and root parts of M. calabura. The preliminary screening was done by cold maceration technique with methanol, butanol, chloroform, ethanol and hexane solvents. The qualitative phytochemical screening of these plant parts revealed the presence of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, tannins and saponins. The results revealed that the methanol solvents from both the explants had given good results compared to the other solvents. As per results of quantitative analysis, the determined highest alkaloid content was 51.37 ± 0.78 BEA/gm in leaf and 49.37 ± 0.77 BEA/gm in root followed by tannins, phenols, saponins and flavonoids. The total anti-oxidants were determined as 27.086 ± 0.52 AAE/gm in leaf and 26.816 ± 0.69 in the root. Based on the results, the present study suggests that the revealed phytochemicals possess potential anti-oxidants and lead to the isolation of new bioactive compounds in M. calabura.