Identification of active principles of manihot esculenta and cerbera odallum by thin layer chromatography: The potential for misinterpretation in forensic cases.

The main aim of this study was to perform thin layer chromatography on plant extracts of Cerbera odallum and Manihot esculenta, and ascertain as to whether similar patterns are obtained in the results. Most forensic science laboratories in India perform TLC assays for detecting active principles of Cerbera odallum, which is a common suicidal agent in some parts of the country. There have been instances where a positive report for Cerbera odallum was furnished, where no such history of ingestion was available. In some of these cases there was history of ingestion of cassava (Manihot esculenta), which is a staple food in some communities. The suspicion naturally arose as to whether the active principles of these two plants (one edible, the other poisonous) exhibit similar TLC profiles leading to the confusion. In this study the TLC patterns of the glycosides present in Cerbera odallum and Manihot esculenta were studied, which revealed that this was indeed the case. This makes it imperative that alternative methods must be used in suspected poisoning with Cerbera odallum, in order to avoid confusion in medicolegal cases. It is clear that the glycosides present in both odallum and cassava cross-react with each other giving similar TLC results.