Vol. 1, Issue 1, Part A (2019)

Introduction: Calotropis gigantea (Apocynaceae) is a wild herb that can be used to cure a variety of ailments, including fever, indigestion, colds, coughs, asthma, and scabies. 
Method: The powdered C. gigantea leaves was examined for ash value, extractive value, organoleptic properties, and microscopy. Also, the extract of the plant in several solvents (petroleum ether, diethyl ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, and water) was successively calculated. Each extract was screened for phytochemicals and evaluated for total phenolic content and total flavonoid content. The antioxidant activity of aqueous and alcohol extracts was assessed, along with the antibacterial properties of each extract. 
Results: Alkaloids, steroids, saponins, terpenoids, glycosides, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars, proteins, Alkaloids, steroids, saponins, terpenoids, glycosides, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars, proteins, tannins, amino acids, phenols, coumarin, and quinones were found in preliminary phytochemical analyses of extracts. The aqueous extract had a greater total phenolic concentration and total flavonoids content. The DPPH scavenging experiment showed dosage dependent result in both the aqueous and alcohol extracts. The alcoholic and aqueous extracts of the plant were found to be effective against E. coli in a dose-dependent manner during antibacterial screening. On TLC analysis, ethyl acetate, alcohol, and aqueous extracts displayed distinct visible tailing in the TLC plates, spots of other extracts could only be seen under a UV light.
Conclusion: The recent study in the extracts of the C. gigantea leaves indicated the presence of antioxidants with phenolic and flavonoid compounds. Therefore, this could be potential lead molecule for antibiotic.