Medicinal Plants - International Journal of Phytomedicines and Related Industries

The butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea L.; family Fabaceae) is a perennial herbaceous plant native to Southeast Asia. It has been used in traditional medicine to treat various ailments, as a natural food colorant, and as a forage crop. Recent research has revealed its potential for multiple modern medicine and agriculture applications. The present study aims to investigate the phytochemicals in the heirloom seed extract of butterfly peas by UV/visible and FTIR spectrophotometric analysis. Methanol was used as an active solvent to extract the phytochemicals from the blue and white flower variety seeds. The results showed that butterfly pea seeds contained a wide range of phytochemicals such as flavonoids, phenolic compounds, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, and reins. The quantitative investigation revealed higher content of flavonoids (78.56 mg/100 g), phenols (78.21 mg/100 g), and tannins (59.89 mg/100 g) in blue variety seeds. The protein (62.06 mg/100 g), alkaloid (58.48 mg/ 100 g), and saponin (47.46 mg/100 g) contents were recorded high in white variety seeds. The results indicated that the two varieties had distinct phytochemical profiles. FTIR spectral analysis revealed various characteristic functional groups of alcohols, amines, carboxylic acids, esters, hydrocarbons, phenols, nitro compounds, etc. in the seed extracts, providing further insight into the chemical composition of the butterfly pea seeds. These findings highlighted the chemical profile and potential bioactivity of butterfly pea seeds recognising their nutritional and pharmaceutical properties.