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Original Article

Phytochemical screening of Tamarix dioica Roxb. ex Roch

Muhammad Qasim Samejo a,b,*, Adeela Sumbul a, Shahnila Shah a, Sara Bano Memon a,Shahjabeen Chundrigar a

aDr. M. A. Kazi Institute of Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro 76080, PakistanbNational Center of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro 76080, Pakistan

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 5 November 2012

Accepted 18 February 2013

Available online 17 March 2013

Keywords:

Tamarix dioica

Tamaricaceae

Phytochemical screening

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ92 (22) 921343E-mail address: muhammadqasimsamejo

0974-6943/$ e see front matter Copyright ªhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jopr.2013.02.017

a b s t r a c t

Aim: Tamarix dioica (Tamaricaceae) is commonly known as Ghaz or khagal. It is used as a

diuretic, carminative and for the treatment of hepatic and splenic inflammation. The aim

of the present study was to investigate the presence of phytochemicals of T. dioica.

Method: The aqueous extract along with dry powder of stems, flowers, leaves and roots of

T. dioica were screened for the presence of phytochemicals using standard procedures.

Results: Phytochemical screening of the plant part reveals the presence of steroids, phlo-

batannins, phenols, tannins, terpenoids, flavonoids and saponins. While proteins, alka-

loids, glycosides and amino acids were absent.

Conclusion: The presence of unusual combination these phytochemicals in T. dioica may

serve as a potential source of useful drugs in the near future.

Copyright ª 2013, JPR Solutions; Published by Reed Elsevier India Pvt. Ltd. All rights

reserved.

1. Introduction Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Punjab provinces of Pakistan.

Medicinal plants are the most important source of folk med-

icine for themajority of the world’s population.1 World health

organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of world population

relies on herbal medicines for primary health care.2e4 A

number of plant products have been identified through

phytochemistry and the extract of their different plant parts

are useful in curing various diseases without side effects.4

Plants contain lot of phytochemicals like alkaloids, tannins,

flavonoids, terpenes, fatty acids, amino acids, saponins, gly-

cosides and sterols that have disease preventive properties.2,5

Genus Tamarix (commonly known as tamarisk) is an

evergreen shrub or tree growing to 1e18m tall.6 It is composed

of about 50e60 species of flowering plants.7

Tamarix dioica is commonly known as Ghaz or khagal be-

longs to family Tamaricaceae is found in Sindh, Khyber

0; fax: þ92 (22) 9213431.@yahoo.com (M.Q. Same2013, JPR Solutions; Publi

T. dioica is used as a diuretic, carminative and for the treat-

ment of hepatic and splenic inflammation. Crude extract of

the leaves of T. dioica tree shows antifungal activity.8 Litera-

ture survey revealed that, no work has been done on phyto-

chemicals screening of T. dioica. The present study was

designed to carry out the phytochemicals screening of stems,

flowers, leaves and roots of T. dioica for first time.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Collection and identification of plant materials

The stems, flowers, leaves and roots of T. dioica was collected

from District Jamshoro (longitude: N 25.430400 and latitude: E

68.280900), Sindh, Pakistan in September 2012 and identified by

jo).shed by Reed Elsevier India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.

j o u rn a l o f p h a rma c y r e s e a r c h 7 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 1 8 1e1 8 3182

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Tahir, Rajput, Institute of Plant Sciences,

University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan. A voucher specimen

(2671317) of the plant was deposited in the herbarium of same

institution.

2.2. Processing of plant material

T. dioica stems, flowers, leaves and roots were washed thor-

oughly 3 times with sterile water, dried in shadow, crushed

into powder and stored in airtight bottles before analysis.

2.3. Preparation of aqueous extracts

50 g powdered of different parts (stems, flowers, leaves and

roots) of T. dioica were extracted separately with double

distilled water for 72 h. The extract was filtered (using What-

man no. 1 filter paper). The filtrate was analyzed for phyto-

chemical test.9

Table 1 e Phytochemical constituents of different parts ofTamarix dioica.

Phytochemicals Stems Flowers Leaves Roots

Steroids þ þ þ þTannins � þ þ þAmino acids � � � �Phlobatannins þ þ þ þAlkaloids � � � �Flavonoids � þ þ þSaponins þ þ þ �Phenols þ þ þ þGlycosides � � � �Terpenoids þ þ þ �Proteins � � � �

þ ¼ Present, e ¼ absent.

3. Phytochemicals screening

Chemical tests were carried out on the aqueous extract and on

the powdered specimens using standard procedures to iden-

tify the constituents as described by Trease and Evans10 and

Samejo.2 The phytochemicals analyzed were saponins, fla-

vonoids, glycosides, tannins, phenols, phlobatannins, pro-

teins, terpenoids, alkaloids, steroids and amino acids.

3.1. Screening procedure

3.1.1. Test for tannins and phenolsAbout 0.5 g of dried powdered sample of plant was boiled in

10ml distilled water in test tube and then filtered. A few drops

0.1% of FeCl3 solution were added to the filtrate. Blueeblack

precipitate indicated the presence of tannins and phenols.

3.1.2. Test for alkaloids2 ml of 2 N HCl was added to 5 ml aqueous extract and the

solution was heated with stirring in a water bath for 10 min.

The cooled solution was filtered and a few drops of Dra-

gendorff’s reagent were added. Reddish-brown precipitate

indicated the presence of alkaloid.

3.1.3. Test for saponinsAbout 1 g of dried powdered sample was boiled with 10 ml

distilled water. Frothing persistence indicated the presence of

saponins.

3.1.4. Test for terpenoids5 ml of aqueous extract was mixed with 2 ml of chloroform

and few drops concentrated H2SO4 was carefully added to

form a layer. Blue/green ring indicated the terpenoids are

present.

3.1.5. Test for steroidsAbout 0.5 g of dried powdered plant sample was mixed with

10ml CHCl3 and filtered then added 1ml acetic anhydride and

few drops of concentrated H2SO4 to the filtrate. Green ring

indicated the presence of steroids.

3.1.6. Test for flavonoidsAbout 0.5 g of dried powdered plant sample was boiled in

10 ml ethanol and filtered. Few pieces of magnesium ribbon

and few drops of concentrated HCl were carefully added to the

filtrate. Red color indicated the presence of flavonoids.

3.1.7. Test for phlobatanninsAbout 2 ml of aqueous extract was boiled with 2 ml 1% HCl.

Deposition of a red color indicated the presence of

phlobatannins.

3.1.8. Test for glycosides: (KellereKiliani test)1 ml glacial acetic acid, few drops FeCl3 and few drops

concentrated H2SO4were added to 2 ml aqueous extract.

Green/blue precipitate indicated the presence of glycosides.

3.1.9. Test for amino acids (ninhydrin test)5e6 drops of ninhydrin reagent were added in 2ml of aqueous

extract and heated in boiling water bath for about 5 min.

Purple coloration indicated the presence of amino acid.

3.1.10. Test for proteins (Biuret test)5e6 drops of 5% NaOH and 5e7 drops of 1% Cu(SO4)2 were

added in 2 ml aqueous extract. Violet color indicated the

presence of proteins.

4. Results and discussion

Water is universal solvent, used to extract plant products.

However traditional healers use primarily water extract.11

The results of phytochemical screening of stems, flowers,

leaves and roots of T. dioica show that steroids and phlo-

batannins are present in all part of plants; tannins, phenols

and flavonoids are present in flowers, leaves and roots;

terpenoids and saponins are present in stems, flowers and

leaves. However, proteins, alkaloids, glycosides and amino

acids were not detected in any part of plant as shown in

Table 1.

The presence of above phytochemicals may show thera-

peutic activities of T. dioica. Previous studies on plants showed

j o u r n a l o f p h a rm a c y r e s e a r c h 7 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 1 8 1e1 8 3 183

that, flavonoids is likely to be accountable for pharmacological

and biochemical actions viz., antioxidant, anti-allergic, anti-

inflammatory, hepatoprotective, anti-carcinogenic, anti-viral

and anti-thrombotic activities.12 Tannins are used in anti-

hemorrhoidal, hemostatic and anti-diarrheal preparations.

Saponins are glycosides of steroids, steroid alkaloids found in

plants, especially in the plant skins where they form a waxy

protective coating. Saponins are helpful in lowering choles-

terol, as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents.12 Terpe-

noids are large and diverse class of naturally occurring organic

chemicals found in all classes of living organisms. They have

antibacterial properties.13 Terpenoids plays an active role in

wound healing, strengthen the skin, increase the concentra-

tion of antioxidants in wounds, and restore inflamed tissues

by increasing blood supply.14 Phenolic compounds possess

biological properties such as cardiovascular protection anti-

apoptosis, anti-inflammation, anti-aging, anti-atheroscle-

rosis, anti-carcinogen, improvement of endothelial function,

as well as inhibition of angiogenesis and cell proliferation

activities. Saponins have the property of coagulating and

precipitating red blood cells. Some of the characteristics of

saponins include cholesterol binding properties, hemolytic

activity, bitterness and formation of foams in aqueous solu-

tions. Steroids have been reported to have antibacterial

properties and they are very important compounds especially

due to their relationship with compounds such as sex

hormones.15

5. Conclusion

Phytochemicals analysis results revealed that certain parts of

the plant gave a positive test for a particular class of secondary

metabolites whereas other parts gave negative test. Obtained

results exposed the presence of medicinally significant phy-

tochemicals constituents in the T. dioica. Presence of these

phytochemicals give physiological as well as medicinal

properties to the plant studied. As a result, extracts from the

plant studied might be seen as a good source for useful drugs.

Morework on the plant studied should be carried out to purify,

isolate, and characterize the active constituents responsible

for the activity of T. dioica.

Conflicts of interest

All authors have none to declare.

Acknowledgment

Wethank theDr.M.A.Kazi InstituteofChemistry,Universityof

Sindh, Jamshoro for laboratory space to conduct this research.

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