Phytochemcial Investigation of Extracts of Hedyotis herbacea

The phytochemical study was carried out on the Hedyotis herbacea plant, which belongs to the Rubiacea family and is traditionally claimed to have wound healing activity. The plant was extracted using cold maceration techniques with rising polarity solvents such as petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and ethanol. The secondary metabolite present in the extract was found through preliminary phytochemical screening. Exracts were further subjected for isolation. Betulinic acid was isolated from the chloroform exract. Isolated Betulinic acid was weighed at 0.50 mg, and its presence was verified using TLC in a solvent solution of toluene, ethyl acetate, and glacial acetic acid (8.5:1.5: 0.02 v/v/v). Betulinic acid was further characterised by IR, NMR and Mass spectroscopy. The ability of Hedyotis herbacea to repair wounds can be further investigated by using betulinic acid.