Phytochemical Analysis, Antioxidant Potential, and TLC Profiling of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schard Extracts from Bullapur, Karnataka, India

Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad., known as bitter apple is a medicinal plant associated with folkloric medicinal practice. In this study, the bitter apple plant parts such as the leaves, fruits and seeds collected from the Raichur district of Karnataka were subjected to solvent extractions and the extracts were tested for total phenolic contents, radical scavenging potentials and thin layer chromatography for the separation of phytochemicals. Phytochemical tests revealed the presence of terpenoids in all leaf and fruit extracts, whereas cardiac glycosides were present in the leaf methanolic and fruit extracts. The leaf aqueous extract depicted a total phenolic content of 213.80 µg GAE/g, followed by methanol (7.5 µg GAE/g) and hexane extracts (12.39 µg GAE/g). The aqueous extract of fruit pulp and seeds showed a total phenolic content of 135.76 µg GAE/g) and 130.65 µg GAE/g respectively. High phenolic content was detected in the aqueous extract of the leaf compared to other solvent extracts. The IC50 values of DPPH radical scavenging potentials in the aqueous leaf, fruit pulp and seed extract, hexane, and methanolic extracts were found to range from 93.88 to 186.70µg/mL respectively. The separation of phytochemicals by thin layer chromatography for phenolic compounds in the hexane extract of leaf revealed the presence of three bands having Rf values of 0.08, 0.13 and 0.17. The methanolic extract of leaf showed the presence of three compounds having value Rf values of 0.79, 0.5 and 0.38 for the separation of terpenoids. The results obtained in the present study indicate the presence of several phenolic and terpenoids compounds which could be further characterized by spectroscopy techniques to unravel the pharmaceutical potential of C. colocynthes extracts.