Abstract

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PHYTOCHEMICALS FROM ETHYL ACETATE FRACTION OF LAGERARIA SICERARIA MOLINA STANDL

*Kailaspati P. Chittam and Dr. T. A. Deshmukh

ABSTRACT

India is the largest producer of medicinal plants and is rightly called the "Botanical garden of the World". Medical information referred in the old Indian literatures includes several medicinal herbs, which have been in the use for thousands of years, in one form or the other, under the indigenous system of medicine. In India, 45,000 plant species have been identified, out of which about 15-20 thousand plants are of good medicinal value. Only few medicinal plants have attracted the interest of scientists, to investigate them for a remedy for tumour. Since chemotherapy, radiation, etc. cause severe toxicity, herbal plants have become popular throughout the world nowadays, and are also used as a therapy for tumours or cancer. The antitumour (antineoplastic) activities of medicinal plants need to be explored.

Keywords: Lageraria siceraria, ethyl acetate, quercetin, benzene, chromatography etc.