干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Forssk.) Decne is a medicinal plant that is native to hot deserts of Pakistan. This plant is sporadically known with reference to bioactivity including phytochemical screening especially from Pakistan. The present study was designed to screen out four major groups of phytochemicals such as alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins and tannins from eight solvents based roots and aerial parts extracts viz., hexane, chloroform, acetone, ethyl acetate, butanol, ethanol, methanol and water of the selected plant. The qualitative screening showed the presence of all major groups of phytochemicals in both plant parts extracts in which methanolic ones were the most efficient that extracted all the selected classes of phytochemicals. Quantitative screening revealed various concentrations of selected phytochemicals in both plant parts. The alkaloid contents were 3.267 +/- 0.643and 3 +/- 0.6 in roots and aerial parts respectively (p>0.05). The total flavonoid content was 76.867 +/- 2.266 and 139.448 +/- 8.677 QE/100g in roots and aerial parts respectively. In the case of total saponin contents, the proportions were 0.34 +/- 0.013% and 0.46 +/- 0.010% in roots and aerial parts respectively, whereas; total tannin contents were 62.713 +/- 4.841 and 154.961 +/- 5.853 mg of TAE/100g of extract in roots and aerial parts, respectively. This study will serve as a benchmark for further pharmacological studies on the said plant that may be harnessed for drug development in the future.