Phytochemical evaluation of two brown seaweeds from Muttom and Rasthacaud coasts of Tamil Nadu, India

Seaweeds are one of the most important marine resources of the world that contain various biologically active compounds which serve as a component for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industry. Recently there is a growing interest on the discovery of natural phytochemicals which are generally safer than synthetic chemicals. Hence the present investigation was carried out to screen bioactive compounds from different extracts of Padina boergesnii and Padina tetrastromatica collected from the coasts of Rasthacaud and Muttom, Tamil Nadu, India. The phytochemical analysis showed the presence of quinones, coumarins, terpenoids, steroids and phytosterols in both the algae. Proteins and tannins were found to be absent in Padina boergesnii and Padina tetrastromatica. The phytochemical analysis showed better result in the alga Padina boergesnii in chloroform extract. Among the five solvents namely aqueous, petroleum ether, chloroform, ethanol and acetone, chloroform was found to be the better solvent for phytochemical screening.