SMGr up Research Article

Annals of Isolation and Identification of Alkaloids

Chromato extracted from Local Plants in Malaysia
Abdul Mushin M Shami * 1

graphy 1
Institute of Biological Science, University of Malaya, Malaysia

and Abstract

Separation The purpose of the study was to isolate and identified the alkaloids fractions local plants in Malaysia. TLC of
alkaloid extracts from the plants used in this study revealed the presence of these compounds by using Dragendroff’s
reagent to reveal characteristic orange bands of alkaloids. IR spectra of alkaloids extract from the fruit of M. citrifolia,

Technique leaves of A. squamosa, and the roots of A. Angustiloba exhibited a strong O-H from the fruit of M. citrifolia. C-H
stretching groups are shown for the fruit of M. citrifolia, the leaves of A. squamosa as well as the roots A. angustiloba.
The N-H groups are showed in the fruit of M. citrifolia and the root A. angustiloba. The C=O bond at the leaves of A.

s squamosa and the roots of A. angustiloba. C-H group bonds were detected for the fruit of M. citrifolia, the leaves of A.
squamosa and the roots of A. angustiloba. It could be concluded that the alkaloids of the plants can be a new source of
antimicrobials against pathogenic bacteria and antioxidant source.

Introduction
Article Information
Morinda citrifolia is one important plant used as a medicine in many countries of the world.
Received date: Feb 26, 2016
The common names of this plant are Noni, Indian mulberry, nuna, and mengkudu [1,2]. A
Accepted date: Mar 15, 2016
medium-sized tree, it is 3-10 metres tall with abundant wide elliptical leaves and small tubular
Published date: Mar 16, 2016
white flowers, which are grouped together. The petioles leave ring-like marks on the stalks [3,4].
*Corresponding author The oval-shaped fruit of this plant has an embossed appearance. It is initially green to yellow in
colour but the ripe fruit is white and covered with small reddish brown buds containing seeds [5].
Abdul Mushin M Shami, Institute of
The seeds are medium sized, ovoid in shape, reddish brown and with a distinct air chamber at the
Biological Science, University of
end probably for widespread seed dispersal by water [1,2,6]. This plant is found in South East
Malaya, Malaysia, Tel: +6012-2447910;
Asia, Caribbean countries, Australia and Central-South America [1,3]. M. citrifolia has been used
Fax: +603-796748; Email:
as a medicine for many ailments such as dysentery, heartburn, liver diseases, diabetes, high blood
aashbio@yahoo. com
pressure, muscle aches, headaches, heart diseases, cancer, gastric ulcers and arthritis. It has also
Distributed under Creative been applied for the treatment of drug addiction. The ripe fruit of this plant is used to treat
Commons CC-BY 4.0 respiratory infections and tuberculosis [7]. The roots and bark of M. citrifolia can be turned into
Keywords Local plants; Alkaloids; TLC; dyes and medicine, while the leaves and fruit are sources of food and medicine [1,2]. The juice
IR from the fruit of this plant has a long medicinal history in places such as the Fiji Islands, the
Pacific Islands, South-east Asia and India [8]. Through in vivo experiments, Glang, et al. [9]
reported that noni juice was deemed to be effective in the treatment of gingivitis and periodontitis.
It used twice daily as a mouthwash, this juice significantly reduced the gingival inflammation.
The second plant is A. squamosa which belongs to the Annonaceae family and its common
names are Nona, sugar apple, ata, gishta and sweet sop plant [10,11]. The genus Annona
comprises 120 species. An economically significant species is A. squamosa which belongs to the
Annonaceae family. Its specific native range is indefinite because of widespread commercial
cultivation but is generally deemed to originate from the Caribbean region [12]. Common names
for this plant are Nona, sugar apple, ata, gishta and sweet sop [10,11]. It is a small semi-evergreen
tree/shrub, 3-7 m tall, with irregular or crown branches. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate and pale
green on both surfaces. The flowers are greenish-yellow and produced in single or short lateral
clusters [13]. The petioles are green and 0.6-1.3 cm in length. The fruit of this plant is round, heart
shaped, ovate or conical. It is green-yellow in colour initially, but the ripe fruit is white with the
sweetly aromatic pulp also white [10]. The seeds are shiny, numerous, and blackish or dark brown
in colour [14]. It is used as a medicine for a general tonic, enriches blood, relieves vomiting,
cancer, vermicide, skin complaints and also used for applied wounds and ulcer [13,15,16].
The third plant used in this study is Alstonia angustiloba which belongs to the Apocynaceae
family. The local name of this plant is pulai or pulaibukit [17-19]. This plant is used as a medicine
for skin sores and gynaecological diseases in Indonesia [20]. It has rich indole alkaloids in
different parts, which showed cytotoxicity against KB cells [21]. The aim of this study is to isolate
and determine of these plants.
 Alkaloid extracts from A. squamosa leaves and A.
angustiloba roots
The method is based on [23] with some modifications the
modifications included varying the quantity of samples used and the
incubation period of extraction. Two hundred and fifty grams of the
dried powder of the parts of the plants was immersed in 100% of
cold distilled methanol. The extracts were filtered with a Whatman
No.1 filter paper and methanol was removed at 40 ºC using a rotary
evaporator (Heidolph WB2000, Germany). They were then added to
5% acetic acid. The liquids were extracted with dichloromethane
and the aqueous layer was basified with 10% sodium carbonate to
regulate the pH to 10. Further extractions of their compounds were
conducted with dichloromethane. The extracts were concentrated
under reduced vacuum at 40ºC
Thin layer chromatography and IR spectrometry
Figure 1: IR spectra of alkaloids extracted from the fruit of M. citrifolia.
TLC chromatography based on the method [22]. Anthraquinones
Materials and Methods fractions of all parts of the bioactive compounds were loaded on
TLC plates 60 F254 (Merck, Germany). The mobile phase
Plant collection dichloromethane: methanol (9:1) and spray by using Dragendroff’s
reagent gets the orange bands for alkaloids. All TLC plates were
The fresh ripe fruit and leaves of M. citrifolia were collected
visualized under UV light at wavelength 245 nm and 356 nm. Then,
from Sendayan Valley, Seremban, A. squamosa was collected in
the IR spectrum of these compounds was recorded by FTIR (Perkin
November 2010, from Juasseh, Kuala Pilah, and A. angustiloba
Elmer spectrum 400 FT-IR, UK) at room temperature from 400 to
roots were collected from the herbarium of the University of
4000 cm-1 for scanning directly.
Malaya. These plants were identified at the herbarium under the
registration numbers KLU 22480, KLU 047368 and KLU 33380 Results and Discussion
respectively. All samples were washed under tap water and dried in
TLC results of alkaloids, five orange bands were observed for
an oven at 40ºC for 3 days. The plant materials were then put
M. citrifolia fruit, six for A. squamosa and five bands for A.
through a grinder with a mesh size of 2 mm. angustiloba. TLC of alkaloid extracts from the plants used in this
Alkaloid extracts from M. citrifolia fruit study revealed the presence of these compounds by using
Dragendroff’s reagent to reveal characteristic orange bands of
This method is based on [22]. One hundred grams of the dried fruit alkaloids. M. citrifolia, A. squamosa and A. angustiloba are known
powder was added to the mixture of ethanol-chloroform 1:3 with 2% of for their alkaloid content [7,24,25]. The functional groups of IR
strong ammonia solution and refluxed for 6 hr. Extraction was spectra of alkaloids extract from the fruit of M. citrifolia, leaves of
conducted with 2N HCl and the extract was made alkaline with strong A. squamosa, and the roots of A. angustiloba exhibited a strong O-H
ammonia. The solution was extracted with chloroform and washed with at band 3334.89 from the fruit of M. citrifolia (Figures 1, 2 and 3).
distilled water. Chloroform was then evaporated until the solvent was
removed at 40ºC using a rotary evaporator (Heidolph WB2000, C-H stretching groups are shown at bands 2925.74 cm -1 and
Germany). The product yield was 0.1% of original material. 2855.38 cm-1 for the fruit of M. citrifolia, 2852.92 cm-1 and 2922.89
Figure 2: IR spectra of alkaloids Figure 3: IR spectra of alkaloids
extracted from the leaves of A. extracted from the roots of A.
squamosa. angustiloba.

Citation: Shami AMM. Isolation

and Identification of Alkaloids
extracted from Local Plants in Page 2/3
Malaysia. Ann Chromatogr Sep
Tech. 2016; 2(1): 1016.
cm-1 for the leaves of A. squamosa as well as 2854.00 cm-1 and 2923.26 10. Lim T. Annona squamosa; Edible medicinal and non-medicinal plants,
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1751.
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Acknowledgment
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Citation: Shami AMM. Isolation and Identification of Alkaloids extracted
from Local Plants in Malaysia. Ann Chromatogr Sep Tech. 2016; 2(1): 1016.
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