ISOLATION OF ACTIVE PHYTOCHEMICALS FOR ANTI-MALARIAL ACTIVITY FROM TUBER EXTRACT OF AMORPHOPHALLUS CAMPANULATUS PLANT

Amorphophallus campanulatus, commonly known as Suran, is cultivated in India and other Asian countries. It is extensively used as a vegetable due to its high nutritive values and medicinal properties. The objective of this research work is to investigate the potential medicinal applications of the corm of the proposed plant anti-malarial activities. The Corm of Amorphophallus campanulatus was collected from village Karwale near Saphale, Palghar District and Taluka, Maharashtra State, India. The Corm crop produced on this land is organic and grown without the use of any chemical fertilizers. A total of 5 kg of corm was procured, washed with water, cut into small pieces, sun-dried, and converted into a ne powder. The sample was then subjected to sequential solvent extraction using a Soxhlet apparatus, starting with petroleum ether (A), followed by chloroform (B), ethanol (C), and water (D) in increasing order of polarity. The extracts obtained were further used for preliminary phytochemical analysis through qualitative methods. The ethanolic (C) extract showed the most promising results among the four extracts, and therefore the ethanolic extract was analyzed for its antibacterial and antifungal properties by using the Agar cup method and minimum inhibitory concentration. The antibacterial properties were compared with the standard drugs Gentamycin Ampicillin Chloramphenicol Ciprooxacin and Noroxacin. While the antifungal properties are compared with the standard drug Nystatin and Griseofulvin. Further it was chosen for minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) testing for the anti-malarial assay, following the protocol developed by Rieckmann and colleagues. Two standard drugs, Quinone and Chloro-quinone, were taken as references for antimalarial activity. The plant extract was also investigated for its metal contents by Flame atomic adsorption spectroscopy for Zn Ag and Co. The sample was investigated for its organic chemical compounds by GC Mass Spectroscopy.