ESTIMATION OF FLAVONOIDS AND ALKALOIDS IN PLANTS

Abstract

Ayurveda is the most traditional form of medicine prevailing in India for thousands of years. The ayurvedic system of medicine aims at promoting, preserving, and sustaining good health and preventing diseases in humans. The term "Ayurveda" means "Science of Life’’. Ayurvedic and herbal treatments were so popular in ancient times. The plant-based natural treatment is still in demand worldwide. There is an increasing demand for pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, food supplements, and so on. In the twenty-first century, natural products account for more than half of all pharmaceuticals in clinical use. Up to 50% of herbal treatments approved in the previous three decades have come from natural sources such as plants, microbes, fungus, and animals, either directly or indirectly. Plants have phytochemicals that provide health benefits to people. Drugs extracted from the plants are safe, economical, eco friendly, efficient, and easily available. Phytochemicals are a class of secondary metabolites that plants make to defend themselves against microorganisms. They have disease-preventive qualities and are non-nutritive in nature. They are produced during plant metabolism. Flavonoids, alkaloids, phenol, tannins, steroids, etc are the types of plant phytochemicals. In the present work, qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analyses of flavonoids and alkaloids were carried out on four plants, Mentha piperita, Mangifera indica, Solanum lycopersicum, Helianthus annuus present in North West part of Delhi (Delhi Technological University).