PRELIMINARY STUDIES ON PHYTOCHEMISTRY AND IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF EXTRACTS OF CNIDOSCOLUS ACONITIFOLIUS

K. J. Kiran*, Rakesh Kumar Jat and J. Jaslin Edward

ABSTRACT

The present study was aimed to evaluate the phytochemical and antimicrobial nature of the different extracts of the leaves of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius plant. Initially, the plant leaves was collected authenticated and dried for powdering. The dried material was powdered in mechanical grinder and the coarse powder thus obtained was extracted in soxhlet apparatus with the solvents of increasing polarity viz., petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol. The dried extracts thus obtained were used for the preliminary phytochemical evaluation and antimicrobial activity studies viz., antibacterial and antifungal evaluation. The results of preliminary phytochemical evaluation revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, phenolic compounds and tannins, flavanones and flavonoids, terpenoids, and saponins. The methanol and ethyl acetate extracts showed a significant presence of majority of phytochemicals comparing with other two, the petroleum ether, chloroform extracts. In the evaluation of antimicrobial activity, the methanol extract showed a significant antibacterial and antifungal activity against tested pathogens particularly P. vulgaris, S. aureus, and Aspergillus sp. These results are useful for further investigation in the future.

Keywords: Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, preliminary phytochemical evaluation, antimicrobial evaluation.