Phytochemical screening of three extraction process of Calotropis gigantea

Abstract

Calotropis gigantea is a flowering plant belonging to the genus Calotropis of the family Asclepiadaceae. Many pharmacological activities of this plant show potential in human therapy. In this study, an investigation was conducted on the three extracted process namely n-hexane extract, ethyl acetate extract and ethanolic extract of C. gigantea collected from a coastline at Alue Naga beach, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Percent yield of C. gigantea leaf extract was mostly produced by ethanol solvent compared to ethyl acetate and n-hexane solvents, with total 8.25 grams (4.12%), 5.62 grams (2.80%), and 4.51 grams (2.25%), respectively. The results of phytochemical screening explained that the ethanol extract of C. gigantea leaves had abundant secondary metabolite compounds, compared to the n-hexane extract, only the steroid compounds were detected. The ethyl acetate extract of C. gigantea leaves showed the presence of flavonoids, triterpenoids, tannins, and phenolic compounds, but no saponins and alkaloids were found. These observations underscore the exciting potential of C. gigantea as a promising reservoir of flora rich in alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, saponins, and steroid compounds, derived from the coast so that it can be used as a drug candidate.