Research Journal of Chemical Sciences ______________________________________________ ISSN 2231-606X Vol. 3(1), 43-47, January (2013) Res.J.Chem. Sci. International Science Congress Association 43 Enrichment of Flavonoids from the Methanolic Extract of Boerhaavia Diffusa Roots by Partitioning TechniqueMahesh A.R.*, Ranganath M.K.2 and Harish Kumar D.R.1 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Krupanidhi College of Pharmacy, Bangalore-560 034, INDIA Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Krupanidhi College of Pharmacy, Bangalore-560 034, INDIA Available online at: www.isca.in Received 12th September 2012, revised 18th October 2012, accepted 15th November 2012Abstract Flavonoids(Rotenoids) present in Boerhaavia diffusa is known for its different biological activities such as antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-stress, anticonvulsant, antibacterial, hypoglycemic, anti-nociceptive, hepato-protective, anti-proliferative and anti-estrogenic, anti-inflammatory. The following work constitutes the enrichment of iso-flavonoids present in the methanolic extract of Boerhaavia diffusa by partition technique using various solvents such as acetone, water, Butanol, ethyl acetate, hexane, chloroform and methanol. Enrichment was determined by Thin Layer Chromatography and HPLC and the presence of flavonoids was confirmed with Shinoda test, lead acetate test and sodium hydroxide test. Keywords:Boerhaavia diffusa, Flavonoids, HPLC, Thin Layer Chromatography, Shinoda test. Introduction It is been recorded in history that Medicinal herbs have been used as form of therapy for the relief of pain. The exploration of the chemical constituents from plants, pharmacological and phytochemical screening would provide the basis for developing the new lead molecules in strategic favor of natural product drug discovery. The aim and subject of many researchers is the discovery and development of isolating a new efficient, active and less toxic molecule for systemic activities. The biologically active agents from natural sources have always been of great interest to working on various diseases. Tribal communities are using their traditional knowledge system to cure different diseases. They use plant as a source of drug through trial and error method and the process is experienced over hundreds of years, which says that the medicinal plants have been in the focus as lifesaving drugs right from the beginning of the human civilization. The medicinal plants have been the object of research in both systematic and advanced areas of plant sciences. The traditional knowledge of these herbal recipes is popular among the indigenous and local communities. Even today the Tribal communities are solely dependent on plants for their medication; hence they are using them against different. They have preserved the wealth of traditional knowledge as a part of their belief and customs. They are practicing these methods generation after generation successfully. Apart from medicinal uses phytochemical components which are environment friendly, economical and effectively shows anti corrosive properties4,5 and also phyto-compounds are used as biofuels6,7. Boerhaavia diffusa L. (Nyctaginaceae), commonly known as 'Punarnava' in the Indian system of medicine, is a perennial creeping herb found throughout the waste land of India. The Boerhaavia sp. has ancient medicinal use in different societies from the times of the B.C. The herbal medicine has evolved and changed through the years. A number of plant products have been identified through phyto-chemistry and the extract of their different plant parts are useful in various diseases without side effects. Many Rotenoids (class of Flavanoids) have been isolated from the roots of the Boerhaavia diffusa10-16Plant also includes a series Pharmacological Potential of Boerhaavia diffusa boeravinones viz., boeravinone A, boeravinone B, boeravinone C, boeravinone D, boeravinone E and boeravinone F. Punarnavoside, a phenolic glycoside, is reportedly present in roots17,18 C-methyl flavone also has been isolated from Boerhaavia diffusa roots19. Phytochemicals such as poly-phenols comprised principally of the flavonoids, which is chemically characterized by two benzene rings joined by a linear carbon chain. Various observational studies indicate that regular consumption of foods containing flavonoids may reduce the risk several chronic conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases, atherosclerosis, and certain forms of cancer. These results have generated considerable interest in flavonoids as it is associated with specific health outcomes20. The interest of the present work is to enrich the flavonoids in methanolic extract in the roots of Boerhaavia diffusa and determine its presence by chemical tests such as Shinoda test, lead acetate test and sodium hydroxide test. The enriched portions can be used for further studies such as the isolation of chemical entities containing flavonoids in the plant Boerhaavia diffusa and studies relating to various biological activity of the plant. Research Journal of Chemical Sciences ___________________________________________________________ ISSN 2231-606XVol. 3(1), 43-47, January (2013) Res. J. Chem. Sci. International Science Congress Association 44 Material and Methods Plant material and its extract: The plant Boerhaavia diffusawas collected in the month of December, 2012 from Bangalore. The shade dried plant material was grounded to coarse powder. The powdered roots of Boerhaavia diffusa (500 g) was refluxed with Methanol 3 times in ratio 1:6, 1:5, 1:4 respectively for 2 hours each followed by filtration using a muslin cloth and the extracted powder was discarded. The methanolic extract so obtained was further processed. The excess solvent in the extract was removed by distillation and the concentrated using rotary evaporator with controlled temperature of 50\rC. The extract was scrapped from the Buchi flask and was completely dried in a vacuum tray drier. (Extractive value 24.8g / yield = 4.96%). Partition using various solvents: Methods(a) 5g of methanolic extract of Boerhaavia diffusa was initially adsorbed with 10g of silica, the adsorbed material was washed with 50ml of acetone. Acetone soluble portion was collected separately. Acetone insoluble portion was washed with 50ml of 100% methanol; methanol soluble portion was collected separately. Methanol insoluble portion was washed with 50ml 50% methanol/water followed by 100% De-mineralized water. Methods(b) 5g of initial methanolic extract was taken in a 100ml separating funnel and 50ml of ethyl acetate was added and the contents of the separating funnel was mixed properly by shaking for around 5min and kept aside for half an hour for separation. Ethyl acetate soluble portion was collected separately. Insoluble portion was retained in the separating funnel and 50ml butanol was added, mixed and kept aside for half an hour for separation. Butanol soluble portion was collected separately and insoluble portion was dissolved in water. Methods(c) 5g of initial methanolic extract was taken in a 100ml separating funnel and 50ml of chloroform was added and the contents of the separating funnel was mixed properly by shaking for around 5min and kept aside for half an hour for separation. Chloroform soluble portion was collected separately. Insoluble portion was retained in the separating funnel and 50ml butanol was added, mixed and kept aside for half an hour for separation. Butanol soluble portion was collected separately and insoluble portion was dissolved in 50ml water. Methods(d) 5g of initial methanolic extract was taken in a 100ml separating funnel and 50ml of dichloromethane was added and the contents of the separating funnel was mixed properly by shaking for around 5min and kept aside for half an hour for separation dichloromethane soluble portion was collected separately. Insoluble portion was retained in the separating funnel and 50ml butanol was added, mixed and kept aside for half an hour for separation. Butanol soluble portion was collected separately and insoluble portion was dissolved in 50ml water. The dichloromethane soluble portion was used for further partition with 50ml of hexane followed by 50ml of methanol. All the partitions collected were subjected to distillation and were concentrated using rotary evaporator with controlled temperature of 50\rC; the solvents were recovered. Thin Layer Chromatography: All the partitions collected were subjected to thin layer chromatographic analysis, to find the presence of flavonoids to support the chemical test. Also an enriched portion of boeravinone was used as a standard. The details of procedure are as following: Pre-coated silica gel on aluminum analytical TLC Plates (TLC Silica gel 60) purchased from Merck Millipore was used. Sample was prepared by dissolving 20mg of each of the partition with analytical methanol. The range of sample volume applied was controlled, spreading not more than 1 cm. Chloroform: Methanol with ratio 9:1 was used as the mobile phase. The TLC plate containing the sample spot was placed at an angle of 45\r in the development chamber covering the bottom of the plate by the solvent up to nearly 1 mm. The ascending technique was used. The solvent front was marked and the plate was finally allowed to dry. The bands separated were detected in UV light of 254nm, 366nm and the Colorless components were detected by using visualizing agent, Anisaldehyde spray. High Partition Liquid Chromatography: Preparation of Phosphate buffer: 136 mg of Potassium Di-hydrogen orthophosphate was dissolved in 100 ml filtered HPLC water. 500 l of analytical grade ortho-phosphoric acid was added and volume was made up to 1000 ml using filtered HPLC water. It is sonicated for 10 min and used. Sample preparation: 2 mg of each sample was dissolved 1.5 ml of methanol by heating and with the help of sonication. It is then filtered using HPLC filter and used. Procedure: All the partitioned samples were analyzed by HPLC in the protocol mentioned in table 1 and the chromatogram were recorded. Tests for flavonoids21: Shinoda Test: To the sample, added 5 ml of 95% ethanol and few drops of concentrated HCl. To this solution 0.5 g of magnesium turnings were added. Observance of pink coloration indicated the presence of flavonoids. Lead Acetate Test: To the small quantity of sample, lead acetate solution was added. Formation of yellow precipitate showed the presence of flavonoid. Sodium Hydroxide Test: On addition of an increasing amount of sodium hydroxide, the sample containing flavonoids showed yellow coloration, this decolorized after addition of acid. Results and DiscussionExtraction: The roots were extracted using solvent 100% methanol in the above mentioned method. The semi-solid extract so obtained was aromatic and brownish-black in color. The extractive value was found 24.8g and 4.96% was the yield. The extractive value was found the partitioned samples is been shown in the table 2. Thin Layer Chromatography: The bands separated were detected in UV light of 254nm, 366nm and the Colorless Research Journal of Chemical Sciences ___________________________________________________________ ISSN 2231-606XVol. 3(1), 43-47, January (2013) Res. J. Chem. Sci. International Science Congress Association 45 components were detected by using visualizing agent, Anisaldehyde spray. Shown in figure 1 and the sampling codes as given in table 03. Compared to the standard enriched fraction of boeravinones (flavonoids of B.diffusa), sample no: 3, 6, 9, 14 and 15 showed the presence of flavonoids. High Partition Liquid Chromatography: The chromatograms of the partitioned samples are given in the figure 02 and the sampling codes in table 3. Compared to the HPLC chromatogram of the standard enriched fraction of boeravinones (flavonoids of B.diffusa), sample no: 6, 14 and 15 showed the presence of flavonoids. Tests for Flavanoids: The results for tests for flavonoids viz., Shinoda test Lead Acetate test and Sodium hydroxide test are shown in the table 4. Sample numbers: 4, 6, 9, 14 and 15 gave the positive results for flavonoids. Table-1 Protocol of HPLC of All the Samples Table-2 Extractive Value and yield of the Partitioned Samples S No. Sample Extractive value Yield Method No. 1 Acetone soluble 540mg 0.108% a 2 Methanol Soluble 270mg 0.054% 3 50% Methanol/Water Soluble 2.82g 0.564% 4 Water Soluble 570mg 0.114% 5 Butanol Soluble 660mg 0.132% b 6 Ethyl Acetate Soluble 510mg 0.102% 7 Water Soluble 2.86g 0.572% 8 Chloroform 510mg 0.102% c 9 Butanol Soluble 175mg 0.035% 10 Water Soluble 3g 0.6% 11 Butanol Soluble 510mg 0.102% d 12 Water Soluble 2.85mg 0.57% 13 Hexane Soluble 240mg 0.048% 14 Methanol Soluble 140mg 0.028% Instrument SHIMADZU HPLC system with LC 10A pump Column KROMOSIL RP C-18 (250 X 4.6 X 7 m ) Flow rate 1.2ml/min Detection wavelength 280 nm Mobile phase Pump A Phosphate buffer Pump B Acetonitrile Method name Boerhaavia Diffusa – 4 method Gradient Time program Time B. conc. A. conc. 0.01 05 95 18.00 30 70 25.00 55 45 28.00 55 45 35.00 30 70 45.00 05 95 52.00 Stop - Injection volume 20 m l Detector SPD-M10Avp photodiode array detector at 280 nm. Research Journal of Chemical Sciences ___________________________________________________________ ISSN 2231-606XVol. 3(1), 43-47, January (2013) Res. J. Chem. Sci. International Science Congress Association 46 Table-3 Sampling Codes for TLC and HPLC Graphs (figure-1 and 2) Sample code Sample Method Number STD Standard Enriched fraction boeravinone B and E - 1 Acetone soluble a 2 Methanol Soluble 3 50% Methanol/Water Soluble 4 Water Soluble 5 Butanol Soluble b 6 Ethyl Acetate Soluble 7 Water Soluble 8 Chloroform c 9 Butanol Soluble 10 Water Soluble 11 Butanol Soluble d 12 Water Soluble 13 Hexane Soluble 14 Methanol Soluble 15 Initial Methanolic Extract - Table-4 Results for the Chemical Tests for Flavonoids Sl no Sample Code Shinoda Test Lead Acetate Test Sodium hydroxide test 1 STD + + + 2 1 - - - 3 2 - - - 4 3 - - - 5 4 + + + 6 5 - - - 7 6 + + + 8 7 - - - 9 8 - - - 10 9 + + + 11 10 - - - 12 11 - - - 13 12 - - - 14 13 - - - 15 14 + + + 16 15 + + + Conclusion With the compiled results including TLC, HPLC and the chemical tests for flavonoids, Ethyl Acetate partition of the methanolic extract of B.diffusa in method-B showed the best enrichment of the flavonoids. The yield of ethyl acetate partition was found to be 0.102%. The partitioned sample can be further used for determination of various biological activities as well as isolation of different flavonoids present in B.diffusa. AcknowledgementThe authors are grateful to the Dean, Principal, Chairman and Secretary of Krupanidhi College of pharmacy for their support and providing facilities for the research work. References1.Rajavel R., Mallika P., Rajesh V., Pavan Kumar K., Krishna Moorthy S. and Sivakumar T., Antinociceptive and Antiinflammatory Effects of the Methanolic extract of Oscillatoria annae., Res. J. Chem. Sci., 2(7), 53-61 (2012) 2.Patil H.M., Ethnobotanical Notes on Satpura Hills of Nandurbar District, Maharashtra, India., Res. J. Recent Sci.,1(ISC-2011), 326-328 (2012) 3.Patil Sunil J. and Patil H.M., Ethnomedicinal Herbal Recipes from Satpura Hill Ranges of Shirpur Tahsil, Dhule, Maharashtra, India., Res. J. Recent Sci., 1(ISC-2011), 333-366 (2012) 4.Sulaiman S, Nor-Anuar A, Abd-Razak A.S. and Chelliapan S., A Study of Using Allium Cepa (Onion) as Natural Corrosion Inhibitor in Industrial Chill Wastewater System., Res. J. Chem. Sci.,2(5), 10-16 (2012) 5.Nutan Kumpawat, Alok Chaturvedi and R.K. Upadhyay.,Corrosion Inhibition of Mild Steel by Alkaloid Extract of Ocimum Sanctum in HCl and HNO Solution., Res. J. Chem. Sci.,2(5), 51-56 (2012)6.Bobade S.N. and Khyade V.B.,Preparation of Methyl Ester (Biodiesel) from Karanja (Pongamia Pinnata) Oil., Res. J. Chem. Sci.,2(8), 43-50 (2012) 7.Deshpande D.P, Urunkar Y.D. and Thakare P.D.,Production of Biodiesel from Castor Oil using acid and Base catalysts., Res. J. Chem. Sci.,2(8),51-56(2012)8.Rawat AKS Mehrotra S, Tripathi SC, Shome U., Hepatoprotective activity of Boerhaavia diffusa L. roots a popular Indian ethnomedicine, Journal of Ethno pharmacology., 56, 61-66 (1997)9.Ahmad Najam, Akhilesh K. Singh, and Verma H. N, Ancient and modern medicinal potential of Boerhaavia diffusa and Clerodendrum aculeatum, Research in Environment and Life Sciences., 1(1), 1-4 (2008)10.Kadota S, Lami N, Tezuka Y and Kikuchi T. Constituents of the roots of Boerhaavia diffusa Linn. I. Examination of sterols and structures of new Rotenoids (boeravinones A and B), Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin., 37(12)3214-3220 (1989)11.Lami N, Kadota S, Tezuka Y, and Kikuchi T., Constituents of the roots of Boerhaavia diffusa Linn. II. Structure and stereochemistry of a new Rotenoids boeravinone C2, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Journal., 38(6), 1558-1562 (1990)12.Verma HN, Awasthi LP and Saxena KC., Isolation of virus inhibitor from the root extract of Boerhaavia diffusa Research Journal of Chemical Sciences ___________________________________________________________ ISSN 2231-606XVol. 3(1), 43-47, January (2013) Res. J. Chem. Sci. International Science Congress Association 47 inducing systemic resistance in plants, Canadian Journal of Botany., 57, 1214-18 (1979)13.Ahmed M, Datta BK, Rouf ASS., Rotenoids from Boerhaavia repens., Phytochemistry., 29, 1709-10 (1990) 14.Kadota S, Lami N, Tezuka Y, Kikuchi T., Examination of sterols and structures of new rotenoids, Boerhavinones A and B, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin.,37, 3214-20 (1989) 15.Lami N, Kadota S, Tezuka Y, Kikuchi T., Structure and stereochemistry of new Rotenoids Boeravinone C,Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin., 38, 1558-62 1990) 16.Lami N, Kadota S, Kikuchi T., Constituents of roots of Boerhaavia diffusa L.IV. Isolation and Structural determination of Boeravinone D,E,F, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin., 39, 1863-1865 (1991) 17.Jain GK, Khanna NM., Punarnavoside: A new antifibrinolytic agent from Boerhaavia diffusa Linn, Indian Journal of Chemistry.,28(B), 163-166 (1989)18.Seth RK, Khanna M, Chaudhary M, Singh S, Sarin JPS., Estimation of punarnavosides, a new antifibrinolytic compound from Boerhaavia diffusa, Indian Drugs.,23,583-584 (1986) 19.Guptha, Dr Ahmed B., A new C-Methyl flavone from Boerhaavia diffusa Linn. Roots, Indian J Chem.,23B 7, 682-684 (1984)20.Michael P Corcoran, Diane L McKay and Jeffrey B Blumberg., Flavonoid Basics: Chemistry, Sources, Mechanisms of Action, and Safety, Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics.,31(3), 176-189 (2012)21.Sahu Vinod K, Irchhaiya Raghuveer, Shashi Alok, Gurjar Himanshu., Phytochemical investigation and chromatographic evaluation of the ethanolic extract of whole plant extract of Dendrophthoe falcate (L.F) Ettingsh, International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research., 1(1), 39-45 (2010) Figure-1 TLC of the Partitioned Samples