phenolic

Plant phenolics, saponins and flavonoids have a powerful biological activity, which outlines the necessity of their determination. The present work was aimed to determine the total phenolic, flavonoid and saponin contents in ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of Sesbania cannabina leaves. The total phenolic content was determined by folin-ciocatechu reagent using gallic acid as standard and total flavonoid content by aluminium chloride assay using rutin as a standard .The total saponin content was determined by vanillin reagent using diosgenin as a standard. Methanol extract of leaves showed highest amount of total phenolic content (231±0.86 mg/g equivalent of Gallic acid), total flavonoid content (87.10±0.38 mg/g equivalent of rutin) and total saponin content (50.66±0.57 mg/g equivalent of diosgenin). The results obtained from the present study provides evidence that extracts of Sesbania cannabina leaves contains secondary metabolites and this justifies the use of plant species as traditional medicine for treatment of various diseases.  

  Cucumis melo Linn. (family cucurbitaceae) is extensively cultivated throughout India particularly in the hot and dry North-Western areas. Its fruit pulp, root, seeds and seed oil are used for medicinal purposes. In Unani medicine, the seed kernel is commonly used to treat various disease conditions. Seeds are having diuretic, lithontriptic, laxative, demulcent and refrigerant properties. There are many varieties of melon available and they also show great diversity in foliage. Hence, adultration is very common with this plant. Standardization provides a more reliable, effective and high-quality product by confirming the presence of plant constituents qualitatively and quantitatively. Hence, efforts have been made to standardize the seed to provide scientific data for identification, authentication and distinguishing the plant from its adulterants. The morphological, microscopic, physicochemical and chromatographic studies of Cucumis melo seed will be useful for quality control of this drug in formulations and would serve as a standard reference for further studies. Key words: Adultration, Cucumis melo, flavonoid, phenolic, standardization