Isolation and characterization of chemical constituents from the fruits of Terminalia bellirica towards achieving their chemical standardization

Terminalia bellirica fruits were extracted successively with solvents such as chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol and water first on lab scale to find out the yield. The yield was found to be chloroform extract-0.4%, ethyl acetate extract-4%, methanolic extract-30%, water extract-23%. The extracts were separately dissolved in methanol and then spotted on the silica gel G 254 plates along with β-sitosterol and gallic acid with the help of capillary tubes. TLC plates were developed and scanned at 254 and 366nm. The Anisaldehyde Sulphuric acid reagent (ANS) was sprayed and the chromatogram was observed for separation. The chloroform extract showed different R_f values than the standard compounds. Ethyl acetate extract showed the presence of both gallic acid and β-sitosterol. Methanolic and aqueous extract shown the presence of gallic acid. Depending upon the TLC pattern and yield ethyl acetate and methanolic extraction was carried out in large scale. Both methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts were subjected for different columns and eluted with solvents in increasing polarity (pet ether, ethyl acetate methanol) and total seven compounds were isolated by column chromatography.