PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY OF INDIAN ASPARAGUS OFFICINALIS LINN.

Asparagus officinalis Linn is a medicinal plant of temperate Himalayas belonging to the family Liliaceae. Asparagus officinalis is one of the most nutritionally well balanced vegetables in existence, and it possess a variety of biological properties. This is high in folic acid, thiamin, vitaminB6, rutin. Traditionally it is used as a powerful cardiac sedative, hepatoprotective activity and the roots of Asparagus officinalis is more diuretic than its shoots, it is recommended in dropsy, its roots have been used as a remedy for schistosomiasis and tuberculosis. The present study sought to perform successive solvent extraction by using non polar to polar solvents, and investigate the chemical constituents by preliminary phytochemical screening, followed by isolation and identification of constituents by means of thin layer chromatography. The various crude extracts of Asparagus officinalis is subjected to thin layer chromatography and separation of spots were observed under day light, shorter wavelength 254nm and longer wavelength 365nm by using different solvent systems, and the Rf values were compared with standard drugs of rutin and quercitin. TLC and qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of some active phytoconstituents. Such as flavanoids, glycosides, alkaloids, saponins. Among all the solvent extracts, alcoholic, methanolic and aqueous extracts showed well separation of spots. The retardation factor was found to be 0.35 and 0.98 which is similar to standard rutin and quercitin.