Analysis for piperine in leaves, roots and spikes in Piper longum L

Abstract

Piper longum L (Pipali) is an important medicinal plant used as an analgesic, antipyretic, CNS depressant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, sedative, hypnotic, tranquilizer and muscle relaxant, hepatoprotective both in digestive and respiratory systems. The fruit of Piper longum contains a large number of alkaloids and related compounds, among them the most important is piperine. Attempts were made to detect piperine in different parts of the Piper longum plant. Leaf and root of both male and female plants and spike from only female plant were used. Methanol extracts of above mentioned parts were prepared and subjected to thin layer chromatography (TLC) along with piperine as a standard, using toluene-ethyl acetate (70:30) mobile phase. Upon treatment with vanillin-sulphuric acid reagent and subsequent heating the silica gels and viewed under UV light. Appearance of yellow fluorescence was observed in all the samples except the male leaf. This confirmed the presence of piperine in all parts except male leaf of Piper longum plant.