PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES INVESTIGATION OF Vernonia cinerea (L.) Less.

Witita Paibon1* and Pintana Doungsombut1

1Regional Medical Sciences Center 2 Phitsanulok

*Corresponding author: witita.p@dmsc.mail.go.th

Methods & Materials

Collection and Processing of Plant materials Eleven samples of V. cinerea (L.) Less. were collected from their growing environment and purchased from herbal medicinal plant stores in Thailand in 2014. The collected samples were cut and shade dried. The dried plant material was powdered by using a blender, and sieved. The final uniform powder was used for the physicochemical properties and chemical composition analysis.

Phytochemical Screening For preliminary chemical composition analysis the freshly prepared crude water, chloroform and methanolic extract were tested for the presence or absence of alkaloids, amino acids, flavonoids, fix oils, terpenoids, organic acids, saponins and steroids by using standard phytochemical procedures according to Trease and Evans (2005).

Physicochemical Analysis Moisture content, water and ethanol extract were done according to WHO Guideline.

Results & Discussion

Preliminary Phytochemical Screening For preliminary chemical composition analysis alkaloids, flavonoids, fix oils, saponins and steroids were presence as the bioactive components whereas amino acids, terpenoids and organic acids were absence (Table 1).

Determination of physicochemical parameters The evaluation of moisture content and extractive values (water and ethanol extract) of whole plant of V. cinerea (L.) Less. are presented in Table 2. The results for moisture content, water and ethanol extract were as follows ; 7.49 ± 1.28, 14.79 ± 3.11 and 9.78 ± 1.22 % respectively.

Bioactive Components

Nature of extract Water Ethanol Chloroform

alkaloids + + + amino acids - - - flavonoids + + - fix oils - - + terpenoids - - - organic acids - - - saponins + - - steroids - + +

Table 1 Preliminary phytochemical screening test of V. cinerea (L.) Less.

This preliminary phytochemical test for the crude extracts indicated the presence of difference phytochemical constituent. These results could be useful for the identification of the crude extracts of this plant in future.

This work was supported by Department of Medical Sciences, Ministry of Public Health Thailand and Regional Medical Sciences Center 2 Phitsanulok.

Acknowledgements References

[1] Evans, W. C. (2005). Trease and Evans Pharmacognosy (15th ed.). India: Elsevier. [2] Daffodil, E. D., Lincy, P. and Mohan, V. R. (2014). Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences, 5(3), 239-249. [3] Haque, A., Hassan, M, Das, H, Begum, B., Ali, Y and Morshed, H (2012). Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science 02 (06), 79-83.

Introduction

Vernonia cinerea (L.) Less. (Family Compositae) (Fig 1 ; a-d) has many thera- peutic uses in traditional medicine. The herb has been recently used widely for smoking addiction. However, the standard methods for quality control guidelines of this plant were not established in Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia (THP) lists. In this study, the physicochemical properties of V. cinerea (L.) Less. were investigated and the chemical composition was analysed. Moreover, these properties could be determined for a quality control guideline of this plant in THP.

Fig 1 (a-d) ; Vernonia cinerea (L.) Less.

(a) (b)

(d) (c)

Conclusions

This study has demonstrated the phytochemical screening and various physicochemical parameters of crude extract of V. cinerea (L.) Less. In conclusion, applying the results of this data, the physicochemical properties of this plant could be determined for a quality control guideline of V. cinerea (L.) Less. In THP. Thus, V. cinerea (L.) Less. raw material and its products can be identification and standardization for standard qualitative control in future.

V. cinerea (L.) Less. Evaluation (n=11)

( ± SD)

Moisture content (%w/w) 7.49 ± 1.28 Water extractive (%w/w) 14.79 ± 3.11 95% Ethanol extractive (%w/w) 9.78 ± 1.22

Table 2 Evaluation of physicochemical parameters of V. cinerea (L.) Less.

Χ

It can be observed that water soluble extractive yield was more than that of ethanol soluble extractive. However, further studies are needed to clarify many parameters that have to be analysed.