University of Yangon

Department of Chemistry
M.Sc Research Proposal

Title - Phytochemical Investigation and Screening of Some Bioactivities

of Leaves and Heartwoods of Caesalpinia sappan L.
Candidate - Ma Htet Htet Lin (2-MSc-BC-4)
Supervisor - Dr Thanda Aung (Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry,
University of Yangon)

Research Proposal
Caesalpinia sappan L. - (Family : Fabaceae) is a thorny and shrubby small to
medium-sized tree up to 4-10 m tall. It is perennial. It grows in tropical and subtropical
regions. It is useful in vitiated condition of pitta, burning sensation, wound, ulcers, leprosy,
skin diseases, diarrhoea, dysentery epilepsy, convulsions, menorrhagia, diabetes and
leucorrhoea (Badami S, Moorkoth S, Suresh B, 2004). The leaves can be used to hasten
ripening of fruits such as bananas and mangoes. The leaves contain a pleasant smelling
volatile oil. The increasing use of herbal medicines worldwide, there is still a significant lack
of research data in field of herbal drug (WHO, 2010). So, the main aim of research work is to
investigate some phytoconstituents and screening of some bioactivities such as
antimicrobial, antioxidant and antitumor activities of leaves and heartwoods of Caesalpinia
sappan L.

Objectives

- To collect and identify the plant samples at the Department of Botany, University of
Yangon
- To investigate the phytochemical constituents in Caesalpinia sappan L.
- To prepare some crude extracts using polar and non-polar solvents
- To screening acute toxicity test of leaves and heartwood of samples
- To evaluate the antioxidant activity of crude extracts by DPPH free radical method
- To investigate the antimicrobial and antitumor activities of the various crude
extracts
- To isolate some bioactive constituents from C. sappan L
- To identify the isolated compounds by modern spectroscopic methods

Literature Review
Drugs of medicinal plants origin have good therapeutic potential with no or less side
effects than those of synthetic medicinal plant (Parekh J, Jadega D, Chanda S, 2005).
C. sappan grows wildly in mountainous regions and as an ornamental tree it is
cultivated in yard and gardens because of its yellow colored flowers. C. sappan is
widely distributed in Myanmar, Southwest China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri
Lanka, and India and the best used for blood purification. The dried heartwood of the
plant has a wide medicinal usages (Hu J, Xiaoling Y, Wei W, Hao WU, Lei H,
Lijun D, 2008) ( Badami S, Moorkoth S, Suresh B, 2004). C. sappan is used for
purifying blood, quenching thirst, treatment of jaundice, cough, respiratory ailments
and wounds, curing blood pressure, heart diseases, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, blood
stasis after delivery (Badami S, Rai SR, Moorkoth S, Rajan S, Suresh B, 2003).
The wood is also a component of Vicco vajradanti, a famous tooth paste and tooth
powder in India. According to Ayurveda, the heartwood is bitter, astringent, sweet,
acrid refrigerant, vulnerary, depurative, constipating, sedative and haemostatic.

Materials and Methods

- Phytochemical constituents will be determined by test tube method.
- Antioxidant, Acute toxicity, antimicrobial and antitumor activities will be
determined by spectroscopic method using DPPH free radical scavenging assay,
OECD guideline, agar well diffusion method, and Potato Disc Assay methods
respectively. .
- Some bioactive chemical constituents from the active crude extract of the sample
will be isolated by silica gel column chromatographic method.
- Isolated compound will be identified by some physicochemical tests and modern
spectroscopic techniques such as UV, FT-IR
Experimental Design
 Tadehagi traquetrum (L.) H. Ohashi
(Lauk-thay)
Overview of
the Present
Work

1.Preliminary
2.Preparation of Crude Extracts
Phytochemical Tests
(PE, EtOAc,95% EtOH, H2O)

Biological Activity
-Antioxidant activity Expected
-Larvicidal activity
Outcome
We can
12
know chemical
constituents, acute toxicity, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Caesalpinia sappan L.
can be used properly in our daily life, especially health for people.

References
WHO. (2010). WHO Monographs on Medicinal Plants Commonly used in the Newly
Independent States (NIS). WHO Press, Geneva, Switzerland. : 2
Parekh J, Jadega D, Chanda S. (2005). Efficacy of aqueous and methanol extracts of some
medicinal plants for potential antibacterial activity. Turkish Journal of Biology; 29:
203 – 210.
Hu J, Xiaoling Y, Wei W, Hao WU, Lei H, Lijun D. (2008). Antioxidant Activity In- Vitro
of Three Constituents from Caesalpinia sappan L. Tsinghua Science and
Technology; 13: 474–479.
Badami S, Rai SR, Moorkoth S, Rajan S, Suresh B. (2003). Pharmacognostical Evaluation
of Caesalpinia sappan heartwood. Ancient Science of Life; 2: 1 – 7.
Badami S, Moorkoth S, Suresh B. (2004). Caesalpinia sappan. Medicinal dye yielding plant.
Natural Product Radiance; 3: 75-82.