Identification of the Different Constituents of Spirulina platensis Using HPTLC Fingerprinting.

Spirulina platensis (fam: Cyanophyaceae) is a blue green fresh water algae. It is a simple, single – celled alga that thrives in warm alkaline fresh water. It is helical in shape and hence the name Spirulina. Spirulina is being developed as the food of the future due to its very high nutritional value. The present work deals with identification of the different constituents of Spirulina using HPTLC finger printing. The dried form of algae was used to prepare extracts of Spirulina in different polar and non polar solvents like petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol and water. The extracts were then subjected to different chemical tests. The ethanol extract presented a good result for the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids and steroids. The ethanol extracts was then subjected to HPTLC analysis in various solvents, suitable for alkaloids, flavonoids and steroids. The HPTLC fingerprinting results confirmed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids and steroids.