International Journal of ChemTech Research CODEN( USA): IJCRGG ISSN : 0974-4290 Vol.2, No.1, pp 548-550, Jan-Mar 2010 ELEMENTS FROM STEM BARK OF ORCHARD TREE – Juglans regia Asha Kale*, Sapana Shah, Sucheta Gaikwad,Kavita Mundhe, Nirmala Deshpande, Jyoti Salvekar T. R. Ingle Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry,Sir Parshurambhau College,Pune – 411030, India *Corres.author:asha.kale30@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Juglans regia, the royal species from Junglandaceae family, well-known for its valuable medicinal uses is grown in the forests of Himalayas in India. It is a woody, deciduous and frost-tender tree. The root, stem bark, leaves, seeds, cotyledons and seed oil are useful to treat various health complaints including cancer in the folk medicines. Chemical analysis is carried out on the stem bark of the species to determine qualitatively and quantitatively the elements present in it. Different standard methods like Kjeldahl, Colorimetry, Flame photometry and Atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) are used for the experiments. Results show considerable percentage of Iron, Nitrogen, Copper and traces of Zinc, Manganese and Potassium Phosphorous. Key-words: Juglans regia, Iron, Nitrogen, Colorimetry, Flame photometry, AAS. INTRODUCTION Juglans regia, known as Akhort in India, a nativeof Eastern Europe to North Asia i.e. China, Iraq, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Nepal, India (forests in Himalayas) is a member of Juglandaceae family. It is a woody, deciduous and frost-tender tree growing to 20m. height. The wood is heavy, durable and polishes well. The bark is resinous and scented. The tree is in flower in June and a seed ripe in October 1 . This valuable tree has a long history of medicinal use to treat a wide range of health complaints. Almost all parts of the plant are medicinally important. The dried green husks contain 2.5-5% ascorbic acid(vitamin C) which can be extracted and used as a vitamin supplement 2 . The root and stem bark are anthelmentic, astringent and detergent. The stem bark is dried and used as a tooth cleaner. The decoction of leaves and bark is used with alum for staining wool brown 3 . The cotyledons are used in the treatment of cancer since a long time. Some extracts of the plant have shown anticancer activity 4 . Juglone found in the leaves and its derivatives show a wide spectrum of applications in the field of cosmetics, pharmacology and ecology. Considering the vast medicinal applications of the royal species, an attempt is made to technically analyze the plant material. Present work is an analytical study to determine the elements present in the stem bark of Juglans regia 5 . EXPERIMENTAL A Perkin-Elmer 3110 Atomic Absorption Spectro photometer was used for the quantitative determination of transition elements. Determination of alkali and alkaline earth metals was performed on the Flame photometer of Madiflame, model127. Photoelectric colorimeter of Systronics, model113 was utilized for phosphorus. Ash was prepared by taking 1gm. shade-dried and powdered sample of stem bark and keeping it in muffle furnace at 550 deg.C till constant weight was obtained. The major constituent of ash was determined qualitatively and quantitatively. For detection of metals the ash was converted to chloride and was tested for metals by applying standard procedures. Initially the ash was dissolved in 10% HCL (0.5ml.) and evaporated to dryness on water bath. The material was filtered through Whatmann filter paper no. 40.