114 | J App Pharm Vol. 6; Issue 1: 114-120; January, 2014 Muhammad et al., 2014 Journal of Applied Pharmacy (ISSN 19204159); www.japharmacy.ca Original Research Article PHYTOCHEMISTRY OF AERIAL PARTS OF ARAUCARIA COLUMNARIS Muhammad Shahzad Aslam 1 *, Bashir A. Choudhary 2 , M Uzair 2 , Abdul Subhan Ijaz 2 1. Lahore Pharmacy College, Lahore, Pakistan. 2. Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan ABSTRACT The current article is designed for the extraction of chemical compound. Dichloromethane and methanol were applied to extract the chemical compound so that maximal number of compounds can be drawn out. Thin layer chromatography is applied as Analytical technique for the isolation and identification of the various compounds. Phytochemical analysis of aerial parts showed the presence of Tannins and cardiac glycosides. Cardioactive glycosides and Tannin and were reported in aerial parts of Araucaria columnaris for the first time. Therefore Araucaria columnaris can be used for further isolation and structural determination of cardioactive compounds. Keyword : Araucaria columnaris, cardioactive glycosides, Tannin, phytochemical study Address for correspondence: Muhammad Shahzad Aslam, Pharm-D., M.Phil., Lecturer, Lahore Pharmacy College (A project of lmdc), Lahore Pakistan. E.: shahzad.aslam@lmdc.edu.pk ; muhammad.shahzad.aslam@hotmail.com INTRODUCTION The basic needs of life for human being are shelter, clothing, food, flavors and fragrances as not the least, medicines. The common source among all is plant. Plants have shaped the foundation of refined traditional medicine structures among which are Ayurvedic, Unani, and Chinese amongst others. Some important drugs that are still in use today are because of traditional medicine structures. The search for novel drugs, nowadays, has taken a somewhat diverse route where the science of ethnobotany and ethnopharmacognosy are being used as guide, which led towards different sources and classes of compounds [1] . Nowadays, studies on structure-activity relationships and their impact on the design of novel drugs have rendered them one of the utmost valuable and thus significant accomplishments of phytochemistry, an advance constituent in the group of pharmaceutical sciences [2] . Araucaria columnaris (Figure 1) belong to family Araucariaceae and genus Araucaria. It is distributed throughout the New Caledonia and Peshawar [3] . It is commonly used as ornamental plant all around the world [4] . Abietanes is compound isolated from Araucaria columnaris [5] . Cupressus columnaris J.R. Forst. is the synonym of Araucaria columnaris [3] .