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For the preparation of solvent extracts, 10g of shade-dried powder of plant materials

were filled separately in the thimble and extracted with 60ml each of acetone, ethanol and
hexane by using a soxhlet extractor for 48hrs and all the extracts were concentrated using

rotary evaporator. After complete solvent evaporation, each of the solvent extracts was
o
weighed and preserved at 4 C in air tight bottle until further use. Preliminary phytochemical
tests for the identification of amino acids, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids,
alkaloids, phenols, steroids, saponins and reducing sugars were carried out for all the extracts

by the methods described by Harborne (1973).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
The phytochemical analysis of Acalypha indica (L.) using different solvents were

studied and the results are shown in the Table 1and Figure 1. The maximum number of

compounds (8) were present in the acetone extract. The acetone extracts showed the presence
of amino acids, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, phenols, steroids and reducing

sugars. This result was correlated with the result of Prem et al. (2016) reported that the plant
leaf extracts of Acalypha indica (L.) showed an abundant production of phytochemicals as

secondary metabolites and they can be used in the pharmaceutical industries for producing a
potent drugs. The minimum number of compounds (6) were noticed in the hexane and

aqueous extracts.

Table.1. Phytochemical analysis of Acalypha indica (L.) plant using various solvents

Chemical Constituents Aqueous extract Acetone Ethanol Hexane

Amino acids _ + + _

Glycosides ++ ++ _ +++
Flavonoids +++ + _ +

Tannins _ +++ + _

Terpenoids + _ ++ +
Alkaloids + + + ++

Phenols +++ + ++ +

Steroids _ +++ ++ ++
Saponins + _ ++ _

Reducing sugars _ + _ _

Note: (+++) – High (++) – Medium (+) – Low (-) – Absent

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