Preliminary Phytochemical Screening and GC- MS Profiling of Ethanolic Flower Extract of Calotropis gigantea Linn. (Apocyanaceae)

Calotropis gigantea Linn is popularly known as the swallow-wort or milkweed and is used as one of the most important drug in Traditional System of Medicine to treat various ailments. The aim of this study is to screen the phytochemicals present in the ethanolic flower extract of Calotropis gigantea and further analysis of the components present in it by GC-MS analysis. Ten grams of flower power was sequentially extracted by ethanol. The results showed the presence of phytochemical compounds of alkaloids, tannins, phenol, flavanoids, sterols, antraquinones, proteins and quinones in the flower extract. The GC-MS analysis of the ethanolic extract revealed the presence of 14 major compounds. This study forms a basis for the biological characterization and importance of the compounds identified and creates a platform to screen many bioactive components to treat many diseases.