Abstract

PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF MEDICINAL PLANT MELIA AZEDARACH

Hena Khodiar and Sunita Bhatnagar*

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Abstract

Melia azedarach belongs to the family Meliaceae is used in traditional medicine for curing a number of diseases across the world and the plant is widely distributed across tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of the world. In present study the leave extracts of Melia azedarach were investigated for their phytochemical and antioxidant properties. The observation for phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of phytochemical constituents such as flavonoids, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides, tannins, saponins and phlobatannin in different extracts (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol) of Melia azedarach. Antioxidant activity was carried out qualitatively by DPPH assay, maximum numbers of antioxidant bands were obtained in chloroform extract in BEA solvent.

Keywords: Melia azedarach, medicinal plant, phytochemicals, TLC, antioxidant, DPPH.