Phytochemical Screening, Determination of Total Phenol Content, Total Flavonoid Content and Quantitative Estimation of Rutin and Quercetin Using RP-HPLC in the Fruits of Capparis decidua (Forsk.) Edgew

Capparis decidua fruits, commonly known as Kair in most parts of India, have been used in traditional herbal medicines since ancient times to cure numerous ailments and disorders. Medicinal properties of any herbal drug formulation are mainly due to the presence of various secondary metabolites like alkaloids, sterols, flavonoids, etc. The present study deals with the phytochemical screening of kair fruits for their qualitative assessment and determining Total Phenol Content (TPC) and Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) using spectrophotometric methods. The TPC and TFC was estimated to be 38.25 ± 1.04 mg GAE/g and 18.58 ± 0.18 mg QE/g respectively, in the methanolic fruit extract on DW (dry weight) basis. Quantitative estimation of flavonoids like Rutin and Quercetin was done by peak area measurement using RP-HPLC technique which gave the results as 0.32 and 0.16 ppm in the samples respectively. Our results give an idea about phytochemical profile of these wild edible fruits of western Rajasthan. A further deep probe into other bioactive principles responsible for their medicinal values can give an insight that can be more beneficial for exploring them to be used in Pharmaceutical industry.