Qualitative phytochemical assessment of Leucas aspera (willd.) Link using various solvent extracts

Abstract

Leucas aspera (Willd.) Linn. belonging to family Lamiaceae is well-known as ‘Thumbai' in Tamil Nadu with traditional medicinal value as an antipyretic and insecticide. The current research work has been carried out to screen the phytochemical content of the aqueous, hexane, ethanol and methanol extract from the whole plant of Leucas aspera. The percentage of yield of the extracts varied according to the organic solvents used in which aqueous yielded 5.4% and methanol yielded 7.8%, respectively. Among the 11 phytochemicals screened, the whole-plant extract showed the presence of 10 phytochemicals. The phytochemical screening result showed that the carbohydrate, protein, lipids, alkaloids, saponins, glycosides, tannins, flavonoids, triterpenoids and phenols were present in the plant sample. Among the different solvent extract, methanol extract exhibited more number of phytochemical presence, and aqueous extract showed the least number of phytochemical presence. Among the different phytochemicals screened, carbohydrates, alkaloids, saponins, glycosides, tannins were present in all the solvent extracts. In contrast, steroids were absent in all the solvent extracts, and lipid was present only in methanol extract. The result suggested that the presence of secondary metabolites of Leucas aspera could be a potential source for antimicrobial, antioxidant activity and cytotoxic activity and the methanolic extract of Leucas aspera could be explored for its potent pharmacological activities.