Development of an Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction Technique for the Extraction of Natural Coloring Substance Chlorophyll from Leaves of Carica papaya.

Beautiful green leaves of Papaya are the rich source of Chlorophyll. Green color of chlorophyll has been used for a very long time as a natural colorant. Carica papaya has been considered as a good example and reasonable source of natural phytochemicals, which makes it suitable to color the food items and beverages. The aim of the present investigation is to develop the process of ultrasonic extraction in combination with solid phase extraction (SPE) to extract out chlorophyll with high yield as well as high degree of clarity. Newly customized ultrasonic-assisted extraction technique for the extraction of chlorophyll from Carica papaya leaves is optimized by taking different parameters like time, temperature, solvents concentrations, and raw material under consideration. Furthermore, the extract was purified by means of SPE and examined by using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The highest yield of chlorophyll (dye) extract was found as 40% in solvent solution having 80 mL of ethanol and 20 mL of water with 5 minutes of extraction time, 35°C of temperature, and 1 grams of raw material in the sonication bath. Furthermore, the SPE purified sample was characterized by means of the UV-Vis spectrophotometer and here the total chlorophyll content was 34 mg/g, including chlorophyll a with a concentration of 14.1246 mg/g and chlorophyll b with concentration of 19.845 mg/g respectively. Consequently, sonication method can be suggested as a good method to get better concentration of chlorophyll.

Lonicera quinquelocularis: A rich source of antioxidant for protection against chronic diseases.

The purpose of the research work was to examine the in vitro antioxidant activity of the different aqueous and organic fractions of Lonicera quinquelocularis Hardwicke. The methanol extract was dissolved in distilled water and fractioned with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol, successively. The antioxidant potential of the remaining aqueous and organic fractions was determined by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, ferric thiocyanate assay and total phenolics method. Among these fractions ethyl acetate fraction displayed the maximum antioxidant activity with IC50 of (11.13±0.12µg/ml). It also exhibited the highest total antioxidant activity (0.595±0.00), FRAP value (128.2±4.54µg/mL) and total phenolic contents (66.89±7.73µg/g) as compared to other organic fractions. Phytochemical investigation of the above mentioned fractions showed the presence of flavanoids, phenolics, terpenoids, sugars, alkaloids, tannins, saponins and cardiac glycosides in appreciable amounts, which have major contribution towards antioxidant activity.

Hypotensive activity and toxicology of constituents from root bark of Polyalthia longifolia var. pendula.

A defatted extract of Polyalthia longifolia var. pendula root bark (PRB) in 50% methanol showed a significant ability to reduce blood pressure. It caused a 22% and 47% fall in mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) in rats at doses of 3 mg/kg and 30 mg/kg, respectively. Compounds purified from this extract include kolavenic acid (3), clerodane (1) and its isomer (2), liriodenine (4), lysicamine (5) and bisclerodane imide (6) and its isomer (7). Of these, only kolavenic acid produced a 22% fall in MABP, at a dose of 30 mg/kg. PRB showed a decrease in blood pressure of normotensive and egg yolk induced hypertensive rats. The LD50 of PRB was determined as 100 mg/kg in mice.