Pharmacognostic Studies of Leaves of Derris Indica - International ...

International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences ISSN: 2229-3701__________________________________________________________________Research PaperPharmacognostic Studies of Leaves of Derris IndicaB.Biswal 1* , D.Saha 2 , S.Beura 3 , S.B.Jana 4 , A.Koley 1 , D.Sur 1 and J.C.Mohanty 51Bharat Technology, Banitabla, Uluberia, Howrah, W. B., India.2School of Pharmacy, Chouksey Engineering College, Lal Khadan, Bilaspur, C.G., India.3Nababharat Shiksha Parishad, Rourkela, Orissa, India.4Calcutta Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology & Allied Health Sciences, Banitabla,Uluberia, Howrah, W. B., India.5Ankur Drugs & Pharma Ltd., Baddi, Solan, H.P., India.___________________________________________________________________________ABSTRACTThe leaves of Derris indica (fam. Fabaceae) was studied to fix the parameters for pharmacognosticalstandards. The results of organoleptic study offer a scientific basis for the use of D. indica which possesscharacters like deep green colour, characteristic odour & bitter taste. The fluorescence analysis under visiblelight & under UV light by treatment with different chemical reagents showed different colour changes. Thepresence of flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, steroids, fixed oil, was confirmed during preliminary phytochemicalscreening.Key Words: Supernatant, bio-friendly, organoleptic study, floraINTRODUCTIONMedicinal plants have been a major source ofcure for human diseases since time immemorial. Itis no wonder that the world’s one-fourth populationi.e. 1.42 billion people, are dependent on traditionalmedicines for the treatment of various ailments 1 .Medicinal herbs are moving from fringe to mainstream use with a greater number of people seekingremedies and health approaches free from sideeffects caused by synthetic chemicals.Recently, considerable attention has been paidto utilize eco-friendly and bio-friendly plant basedproducts for the prevention and cure of differenthuman diseases. Considering the adverse effects ofsynthetic drugs, the Western population is lookingfor natural remedies, which are safe and effective.It is documented that most of the World’spopulation has taken in traditional medicine,particularly plant drug for the primary health care 2 .The Indian flora offers a variety of plants havingmedicinal properties. These plants can be exploitedto find out effective alternative to synthetic drugs 3 .MATERIALS AND METHODSDerris indica was subjected to pharmacognosticstudy, the various methods used in the study_______________________________________*Address for correspondence:E-mail: papai24@yahoo.co.inincluded organoleptic study, fluorescence analysisand preliminary phytochemical studies.Organoleptic studyThe powder of Derris indica was used forstudies. The colour variation and taste were thebasis for this test as given by Jackson andSnowdown 4 .The leaf powders are treated with variouschemicals exhibited various colours in the UVlight. When the powder was treated with aqueous 1N NaOH and 50% H 2 SO 4 the leaf powder exhibitedvaried deep green and light blackish green coloursin UV light. The fluorescence properties werestudied under UV light adopting the methoddescribed by Kokoshi 5 and Chase & Pratt 6 . Thebehavior of the samples with different chemicalreagents was studied and fluorescence characterswere observed on long UV light at 254nm.When the leaf powders were treated withchemicals like FeCl 3 , HCl, HNO 3 , picric acid, NH 3 ,NaOH+methanol, Iodine solution, etc variousshades of deep brown, green, yellow, deep brown,yellowish green, etc colours were obtained 7 .About 20 gm of the powder of Derris indicawas weighed accurately and mixed with 250 ml ofhot water. After 1hour it was filtered and thesupernatant was used as the extract. Thepreliminary phytochemical test of this extract wasperformed by specific reagents. These extractswere subjected to qualitative chemical tests fordetection of various plant constituents.Vol. 2 (1) Jan – Mar 2011 www.ijrpbsonline.com 294

International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences ISSN: 2229-3701RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe pharmacognostical characters of the leafpowders have been studied by screening the samethrough varying parameters.The investigation on organoleptic study of leafpowder of Derris indica indicated the characterslike colour, odour and taste. The colour of the leafpowder showed deep green colour. The taste andodour of the leaf powders were also tested. Thetaste of the leaf is bitter and on analysis the leafpowder gives a characteristic odour (Table 1).The leaf powders are treated with variouschemicals exhibited various colours in the UVlight. When the powder was treated with aqueous 1N NaOH and 50% H 2 SO 4 the leaf powder exhibitedvaried deep green and light blackish green coloursin UV light and the results are depicted in (Table2). When the leaf powders were treated withchemicals like FeCl 3 , HCl, HNO 3 , picric acid, NH 3 ,NaOH+methanol, Iodine solution, etc variousshades of deep brown, green, yellow, deep brown,yellowish green, etc colours were obtained (Table3). Pharmaceutical preparation derived fromnatural resources such as vegetables often containcompounds that contribute the antimicrobialdefense systems and apparently play a role in theprotection against degenerative diseases.In the present study, a phytochemicalscreening was carried out to detect the activeconstituents such as alkaloids, glycosides,flavonoids, tannins, steroids, reducing sugars andsaponins. All the phytochemical tests showedpositive results except glycosides, reducing sugarsand tannins. The results are depicted in (Table 4).CONCLUSIONThe results of organoleptic study offer ascientific basis for the traditional use of Derrisindica which possess characters like deep greencolour, characteristic odour and bitter taste. Theleaf powders when treated with various chemicalsexhibited various colours in the UV light. All thephytochemical tests showed positive results exceptglycosides, reducing sugars and tannins.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe authors are thankful to the Director,Principal and management of Bharat Technology,Uluberia, Howrah for providing necessary facilitiesto carry out this work.Table 1: Organoleptic study of the powder1. Colour Deep Green2. Odour Characteristics3. Taste BitterTable 2: The fluorescence analysis of the powder of Derris indicaS.No. Treatment with chemical reagents Observation1. Powder as such Deep green2. Powder + 1N Sodium hydroxide in methanol3. Powder + 1N Sodium hydroxide in waterDeep greenDeep green4. Powder + 50% Hydrochloric acid Light blackish green5. Powder + 50% Sulphuric acid Light blackish green6. Powder + 50% Nitric acid Light green7. Powder + Petroleum ether Deep green8. Powder + Chloroform Deep green9. Powder + Picric acid Yellowish green10. Powder + 5% Ferric chloride solution Light brown11. Powder + 5% Iodine solution Deep brown12. Powder + Methanol Green13. Powder + (Nitric acid + Ammonia) Light yellowish greenVol. 2 (1) Jan – Mar 2011 www.ijrpbsonline.com 295

International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences ISSN: 2229-3701Table 3: The behaviour of the leaf powder of Derris indicawhen treated with different chemical reagentsS.No. Treatment with chemical reagents Observation1. Powder as such Deep green2. Concentrated Hydrochloric acid Deep green3. Concentrated Sulphuric acid Light yellowish green4. Concentrated Nitric acid Light yellowish green5. Glacial acetic acid Blackish green6. 5% Sodium hydroxide solution Deep green7. 5% Potassium hydroxide solution Deep green8. 5% Ferric chloride solution Brown9. Picric acid Yellow10. Ammonia Light Brown11. Powder + 1N Sodium hydroxide in methanol Yellowish green12. Powder + 1N Sodium hydroxide in water Yellowish greenTable 4: Phytochemical analysis of Derris indicaExtract Alkaloid Glycoside Steroid Flavonoid Reducing Saponin TanninSugarPetroleum Ether – – + – – – –Chloroform + – + + – – –Ethanol + – – + – + –Aqueous – – – – – + –+ = Presence. – = AbsenceREFERENCES1. Reddy KJ. Medicinal plant researchscenario in India, Info concepts IndiaInc., 2004;25-28.2. Dubey NK, Kumar R and Tripathi P.Global promotion of herbal medicine:India’s opportunity. Current Science.2004;86(1):37-41.3. Gaikwadi SS, Vadlamudi VP,Waghmaee SP, Maral VJ, RantekeVD and Dhok AP. Phytochemicalanalysis of aqueous extract of fewmedicinal plants. PKV. Res J.2003;27(1):91-92.4. Jackson BP and Snowdown DW.Powdered vegetable drugs, CheerChil Ltd. 1968:25.5. Kokoshi GJ, Kokoshi JR and SharmaFJ. Fluorescence of powderedvegetable drugs under ultra violetradiation. J Amer Pharm Assn. 1958;38(10):715-717.6. Chase CR and Pratt RF. Fluorescenceof powdered vegetable drugs withparticular reference to thedevelopment of systems ofidentification. J American PharmAssoc. 1949;38:324-333.7. Pandey HC, Dixit RS and SharmaHP. Addition to the Pharmacognosyof Kalimulri (Curculigo orchioides).Bull Med Ethnobot Res. 1984;5(1-2):55-56.Vol. 2 (1) Jan – Mar 2011 www.ijrpbsonline.com 296