Phytochemical Investigations, Extraction and Thin Layer Chromatography of Acorus Calamus Linn

The present study is aimed at the development of phytochemical parameters and to investigate the medicinally active substances present in methanolic extract obtained from rhizomes of Acorus calamus linn. plant. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the extracts revealed the presence of terpenoids, steroids, flavanoids, tannins, saponins and phenolic compounds.TLC is a technique with large applicability in the fields of plant material analysis.TLC is a simple,quick and inexpensive procedure that indicates how many components are in acrude extract. TLC has many advantages such as lower cost, short time analysis, the possibility of multiple detection and specific derivatization on the same plate. Among the different extracts methanolic extract was used for Thin Layer Chromatography. For the TLC new solvent system developed for the best separation of the phytoconstituents present in the extract. The solvent system selected for the best results of TLC was the ratio of N-Hexane: Ethyl Acetate: Methanol: Formic acid 3 : 4 : 3 : 0.1 ml for methanolic extract.TLC resulted in identification of four spots found in the methanolic extract. The Rf values of the extract were 0.68, 0.71, 0.79 and 0.81.The study will provide referential information for the correct identification of the crude plant extract of Acorus calamus linn.