Phytochemical screening and Extraction: A Review

Prashant Tiwari*, Bimlesh Kumar, Mandeep Kaur, Gurpreet Kaur, Harleen Kaur Plants are a source of large amount of drugs comprising to different groups such as antispasmodics, emetics, anti-cancer, antimicrobials etc. A large number of the plants are claimed to possess the antibiotic properties in the traditional system and are also used extensively by the tribal people worldwide. It is now believed that nature has given the cure of every disease in one way or another. Plants have been known to relieve various diseases in Ayurveda. Therefore, the researchers today are emphasizing on evaluation and characterization of various plants and plant constituents against a number of diseases based on their traditional claims of the plants given in Ayurveda. Extraction of the bioactive plant constituents has always been a challenging task for the researchers. In this present review, an attempt has been made to give an overview of certain extractants and extraction processes with their advantages and disadvantages. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lovely School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Phagwara, Punjab Date of Submission: 12-01-2011 Date of Acceptance: 22-02-2011 Conflict of interest: Nil Source of support: None