DOI:10.7598/cst2018.1460 Chemical Science Transactions ISSN:2278-3458 2018, 7(1), 63-70 Phytochemical Analysis and Chemical Fingerprinting of Seeds of Abrus Precatorius L. AMIT SARAF 1 , APARNA SARAF 2 and ALKA CHATURVEDI 1 1 Department of Botany, RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur, India 2 The Institute of Science, Fort, Mumbai, India aysaraf@gmail.com Received 14 September 2017 / Accepted 3 October 2017 Abstract: Herbal medicine system has a long tradition and was a reason behind the survival of all ancient civilization. The development in analytical science and growing acceptance of herbals, are pressing for standardized parameters for herbal evaluation. Abrus precatorius L. is an important medicinal plant and one of the highly traded plants in India. Seeds exhibits fertility related activity and are used in Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani systems of medicine. Standardization parameters are studied in A. precatorius, as mentioned in various pharmacopoeias and WHO guidelines. Preliminary phytochemical analysis in various solvents was done to reveal the presence of various secondary metabolites. Proximate analysis was performed to evaluate the suitability of dried seed powder as per the global norms. Extractive values and optimization studies will help to develop and improve chemical fingerprinting protocols. HPTLC and FTIR fingerprint results can be employed for the purpose of authentication and identification of the plant under study. Keywords: Abrus precatorius L., Proximate analysis, Extractive value, HPTLC, FTIR Introduction Herbal products are witnessing steady growth in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industry. Plants are the backbone of folklore and traditional systems of medicine. Therapeutic use of herbals has been well archived by the old Indian and Chinese system of medicines. Use of herbal medicines for curing of diseases is on the rise in developing and developed countries. These herbal products have served as a major source of drugs for centuries and about half of the pharmaceuticals in use today are derived from herbal products. India has witnessed incessant growth in the consumption of herbal raw material in domestic market. The concerns over the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines have turned the major pharmaceutical population towards medicinal plants research. Hence development of suitable technique for phytochemical evaluation and authentication of herbals has gained paramount importance. Various analytical techniques that are employed to analyze phytochemical aspects of the plant could be a solution to overcome the problems of quality assurance, control and authentication of medicinal plant species 1 . The standardized parameters for the evaluation of RESEARCH ARTICLE