Phytochemical Screening and Antioxidant Activity of Justicia Tranquebariensis and Bauhinia Racemosa

Introduction: The phytochemicals in medicinal plants are defined as bioactive non nutrient plant compounds in fruits, vegetables and grains that have been linked to reducing the risk of major chronic diseases. The medicinal plant are promising to have such have effective medicinal property due to presence of phytochemical compounds like alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids and phenolic compounds. The present study aimed to find the phytochemicals present in hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of Justicia tranqubarieansis and Bauhinia racemosa and also find out the antioxidant property of these plant extracts. Methods: Phytochemicals present in the hexane and ethyl acetate extract of Justicia tranqubarieansis and Bauhinia racemosa were identified by chemical methods. Antioxidant property was done by DPPH free radical scavenging method. Results: In Justicia tranqubarieansis, hexane extract showed positive for flavonoids, alkaloids and coumarins. Ethyl acetate extract showed positive for flavonoids, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, coumarins and steroids. Hexane extract of Bauhinia racemosa showed positive for flavonoids, alkaloids, quinines, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids and coumarins. Ethyl acetate extract showed positive for flavonoids, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, coumarins and steroids. Ethyl acetate showed better extraction of phytochemicals than Hexane. Hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of Justicia tranqubarieansis exhibited 66% and 90% respectively of free radical scavenging activity at a concentration of 150μg. Extracts of Bauhinia racemosa showed less antioxidant activity. Conclusion: This study suggests that the Justicia tranqubarieansis extracts have good antioxidant property, which might be helpful in preventing of slowing they progress of diseases involved as result of oxidative stress. INTRODUCTION: Medicinal plants, as source of remedies, are widely used as alternative therapeutic tools for the prevention or treatment of many diseases. The recent studies have investigated that the antioxidant effect of plant products is mainly attributed to phenolic compounds such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, tannins etc 1, 2 . QUICK RESPONSE CODE DOI: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.IJP.2(7).362-67 Article can be accessed online on: www.ijpjournal.com DOI link: http://dx.doi.org/10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.IJP.2(7).362-67 Accumulation of free radicals can cause pathological conditions such as ischemia, asthma, arthritis, inflammation, neuro-degenertion, Parkinson’s diseases, mongolism, ageing process and perhaps dementia. Natural antioxidants have become the target of a great number of research studies in finding the sources of potentially safe, effective and cheap antioxidants 3 . Herbal drugs containing free radical scavengers are known for their therapeutic activity 4 . In the present study the phytochemical screening and antioxidant activities of two medicinally important herbs Justicia tranquebariensis and Bauhinia racemosa were taken to identify its phytoconstiutents and radical scavenging capacity.