PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF PTEROCARPUS SANTALINUS L.F. PLANT PARTS

Objective: Oxidation is a normal process in many biological metabolisms in living beings, but in this technology era radiation, pollution, irregular life style, and unhealthy diet leads to excessive oxidation resulting in imbalance between antioxidants and free radicals in body called oxidative stress, which may result in cardiac problems, diabetes, and carcinogenic diseases. Therefore, exploration of natural antioxidants in flora and fauna is becoming important. In this motive a phytochemical study was taken up on various parts of Pterocarpus santalinus L.f. plant belonging to Leguminosae family to check the presence of antioxidant activity (AA). Methods: The leaves, flowers, fruits, and roots of this plant were extracted with six different organic solvents from polar to non-polar. To estimate the AA of these extracts, four types of antioxidant tests were done on them, namely, α, α – Diphenyl – β – Picryl - Hydrazyl free radical scavenging activity (DPPH RSA) assay, relative reducing power (RRP) assay, Ferric thiocyanate (FTC) assay, and β - carotene bleaching assay with Butylated Hydroxy Toluene (BHT) as synthetic standard. Results: In extraction, Me extracts showed highest yields. Qualitative phytochemical screening has revealed many bioactive components in the Me and Et extracts of plant parts majorly. In DPPH RSA assay, Me extracts of leaves showed RSA activity almost equal to reference standard. In RRP assay, Me floral extracts showed AA higher than standard. FTC and β – Carotene assays showed that Me sample extracts possess good AA than BHT. In FTC assay, lower absorption values specify high AA, whereas in β – Carotene assay, high absorption values indicate high AA of the sample extracts. Conclusion: Among six solvents methanol showed highest extraction efficiency and also revealed highest number of phytochemicals in its extracts. These four AA assays revealed that the methanol extracts of all plant parts, that is., leaves, roots, fruits, and flowers possess better AA compared other solvent extracts