Evaluation Of Phytochemical Compounds Present in Some Medicinal Plants

Medicinal plants are widely used in the treatment of several diseases. This is because of diversepharmacological activities, shown by these plants such as antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antihypertensive,antidiarrheal, anthelmintic and several other therapeutic effects shown by these plants. The therapeuticpotential of medicinal plants is determined by their phytochemical composition, either individually orin combination. Alkaloids, phenolics, tannins, steroids, glycosides and terpenes are importantphytochemicals. The pharmacological properties of plants can be evaluated through the identificationof these phytochemicals. Although modern analytical techniques are now available for phytochemicalanalysis, traditional qualitative tests continue to be widely used for preliminary phytochemical screeningof medicinal plants.