Abstract

Embelia ribes.Burm.f. is one of the important medicinal plants of India. Six samples ofEmbelia were collected from different geographical regions of India. The seed extract was isolated and analyzed for the principle bioactive constituent, embelin, by high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method. All the samples showed characteristic peaks of embelin at the same retention time as that of standard embelin. However, lot of variation in the percentage of embelin content was observed among the different samples. High percentage of embelin was observed in the samples collected from the Kerala (4.9%) followed by the Orrisa (4.6%). The percentage of embelin in Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra sample was 1.27 to 2.0%, respectively. The commercial samples collected from the local market showed low percentage of embelin (1.0 and1.05%). The HPLC procedure has given the reliable quantification of embelin from different samples, which can be used for analytical work and also for selection of embelin rich plant for commercial exploitation.

Key words: Embelia ribes (Mysrinaceae), medicinal plant, seed extract, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis, embelin.