CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Medicinal plants or herbs are commonly used for medicines and have been discovered

in a long time ago since prehistoric. Since ancient times, man has used plants to treat

common contagious diseases, and some of these traditional medicines are still included

as part of the treatment for illness. At present, medicinal plants still play an important

role in developing countries in Asia. Medicinal plants have at least a part of their plants

for example leaves, stem, barks or roots used for curative purposes (Bruneton, 2009).

About 60-80% of world population rely on plant-based medicines, India is one of the

largest supplier of medicinal plants and herbal medicine (Nathiya & Dorcus, 2012).

The medicinal values of these plants rely in the presence of phytochemical

constituent definite physiological effects on human body. Most of the medicinal plants
 2

were found to possess insecticidal, antifungal and antibacterial properties against broad

spectra of organisms. Many active phytochemicals like vitamins, alkaloids, saponins

etc. were found to be responsible for these activities. They are widely used in the human

therapy, veterinary, agriculture, scientific research and countless other areas (Vasu,

Goud, Suryam, & Singara Charya, 2009). For example, the use of native gooseberry

(Physalis minima L.) to treat diuretic, fevers, dropsy etc (Nathiya & Dorcus, 2012) is

reported in divergent references of phytotherapy, while species such as lemon balm

(Melissa officinalis), garlic (Allium sativum) and tee tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) are

described as broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents (Heinrich, Barnes, Prieto Garcia,

Gibbons, & Williamson, 2012).

In the present work, quantitative phytochemical analyses were carried out in

Physalis minima of Malaysia. Physalis minima is also known as the wild gooseberry, a

pantropical annual herb that grown as weed in crop field, it belongs to the family

Solanaceae. Physalis minima can be found in India, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Tropical

Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia (Chothani & Vaghasiya, 2012). Physalis

minima can reach up to 20-50 cm tall. Leaves of this plant are used to apply on snakebite

site (Karthikeyani & Janardhanan, 2003). The fruit is a good source of vitamin C and is

considered to be a diuretic, purgative and used to relieve pain (analgesic action) and

cure spleen disorder (Parmar & Kaushal, 1982). Unfortunately, Physalis minima is

poorly studied and its nutritional potential is unknown. In order to increase the

medicinal information of this plant, this study is conducted.

The analysis of phytochemical constituents can be analyzed using various of

screening technologies and techniques that involving the applicators of

 3

chromatographic techniques such as Optimum Performance Laminar Chromatography

(OPLC), High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC), High Performance

Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Gas Chromatography (GC), Column

Chromatography (CC), Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC), Paper Chromatography,

Size Exclusion Chromatography etc. The bioactive compounds that presents in the plant

extracts can be detected through Fourier Transform Infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR),

Mass Spectrometry (MS), and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) (Ingle, et al.,

2016). The analysis of phytochemical constituents in Physalis minima on this study is

analyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The Physalis

minima leaf and fruit extracts were obtained using the solvent extraction of ethanol.

The principle aim of the present work was to identify phytochemical compounds

in ethanolic extraction of Physalis minima fruits.