Phytochemical Screening of the Extract of the Root-Bark of Morinda tinctoria (Rubiaceae) for Secondary Metabolites

Morinda tinctoria Roxb. is one of the medicinally important plants belonging to the family Rubiaceae and traditionally the leaves and roots are used for treatment of various ailments. Chloroform, Ethylacetate and methanol extracts of the root-bark was subjected to standard biochemical test for the presence of several plant secondary metabolites. Alkaloids, anthroquinones, saponins, steroids, triterpenoids, quinones and cardiac glycosides were present in the rootbark. The extracts were further subjected to chromatographic separation using GC-MS. The chromatogram revealed 21 peaks from Chloroform, 17 from Ethyl acetate and 14 from Methanol extracts. The Chloroform and methanol rootbark extract consist of the potent biologically active phyto-constituents such as Heptacosane, Eicosanedioic acid and Nonadecenoic acid.