International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 4, Issue 2, February 2014 1 ISSN 2250-3153 www.ijsrp.org Preliminary Phytochemical Screening of Calotropis gigantea Leaf Suchita Singh * , Sanchita Singh * , R. M. Mishra * , Mahesh Pal Shrivastava ** * A.P.S. University Rewa India ** NBRI Lucknow India Abstract- Herbals plants are effective source of traditional and modern medicines, useful for primary health care. Plants are richest source of bioactive organic chemicals on earth. The active metabolites like Phytochemicals from the medicinal plants were under exploration for the development of novel and biodegradable effective drugs as an alternative to the ineffective contemporary medicine. Calotropis gigantea has great medicinal importance to treat fever, indigestion, cold, cough, cardio tonic, asthma, scabies etc. Phytochemical properties of leaf of Calotropis gigantea obtained from methanol and petroleum ether extracts were investigated .The results suggest that the Phytochemical properties of the leaf for using various ailments. Index Terms- Calotropis gigantea, Phytochemical I. INTRODUCTION medicinal plant is any plant which, in one or more of its organ, contains substance that can be used for therapeutic purpose or which is a precursor for synthesis of useful drugs. The plants possess therapeutic properties or exert Beneficial Pharmacological effects on the animal body are generally designated as “Medicinal Plants ’’. It has now been established that the plants which naturally synthesis and accumulate some secondary metabolites, like alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, volatiles oils and contain minerals and vitamins, possess medicinal properties. Plants contain useful constituents, including vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, essential oils, tannins, alkaloids, bitters and flavonoids. Each part of the plant contains distinct properties and is used for different purposes (Rahman et al, 2013). The Asclepiadaceae is a large family comprising of 175-180 genera and 2200 species distributed mainly in the tropical and subtropical region of the world, represented in India by 23 genera and 41 species . Several genera of this family contain biologically active compounds . Among these are the species of Asclepias and Calotropis which contain cardenolides toxic to vertebrates . Certain insects notably monarch butterflies and milk weed bugs sequester these cardenolides from Asclepias host plants and apparently utilize them for defense against vertebrate predators (Shirsat et al, 2013). Calotropis is a small genus of about 6 species of shrubs or small trees,distributed in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and central and South America, represented in India by only two species namely Calotropis procera and Calotropis gigantean linn. Both the species closely resemble each other in structure and find similar uses (Kirtikar et al, 1994) . Calotropis gigantea Linn is a glabrous or hoary, laticiferous shrubs or small trees, about 3-4 m tall commonly known as the swallow-wort or milkweed. Its stems are erect, up to 20 cm in diameter. The leaves are broadly elliptical to oblong- obovate in shape, with the size of 9-20 cm x 6-12.5 cm but subsessile. The cymes are 5-12.5 cm in diameter. The inflorescence stalk is between 5-12 cm long, the stalk of an individual flower is 2.5-4 cm long. Sepal lobes are broadly eggshaped with a size of 4-6 mm x 2-3 mm. Petal is 2.5-4 cm in diameter. It has clusters of waxy flowers that are either white or lavender in colour. Each flower consists of five pointed petals and a small, elegant "crown" rising from the centre, which holds the stamens. The plant has oval, light green leaves and milky stem (Carol et al, 2012) . The flower of the plant contains the cardiac glycosides, calotopin, uscharin, calotoxin, calactin, uscharidin and gigantin. The flower also contains the protease calotropin DI and DII and calotropin FI and FII (Dhivya et al, 2013). It is estimated that only one percent of 2,65,000 flowering plants on earth have been studied exhaustively for their chemical composition and potential against important medicinal value (Cox et al, 1994). Here an attempt has been made to investigate the chemical present in the leaf for curing various diseases. II. MATERIAL AND METHODS 1. Plant material: Calotropis gigantea leaf collected in January 2013 from Rewa. The plant material was identified at the field using standard keys and descriptions. 2.Method of extraction: Solvent – Petroleum ether, Methanol Method – Maceration Procedure: Leaf powder was weighed 500 gm and kept in a container in contact with pet ether for seven days, with vigorous shaking at regular interval. Material was filtered a first with muslin cloth and then with filter paper. Filtrate was collected and dried in water bath till no further reduction in mass of extract was observed. Dried extract was weighed and packed in air tight container and the marc was air dried then kept in a container in contact with methanol for seven days, with vigorous shaking at regular interval. Material was filtered a first with muslin cloth and then with filter paper. Filtrate was collected and dried in water bath till no further reduction in mass of extract was observed. Dried extract was weighed and packed in air tight container. A