CHARACTERIZATION OF MUCUNA SPP. THROUGH IN VITRO PHYSICOCHEMICAL, PHYTOCHEMICAL, AND FLUORESCENCE STUDIES

Mucuna is commonly called as “Kapikacchu’, which is known to have various medicinal properties and being used in Ayurveda since ages. Medicinal plants have bioactive compounds which are used for curing various diseases. The present investigation is aimed to screen the various bioactive compounds present in seeds of Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC., Mucuna cochinchinensis (Lour.)A. Chev. Black seeds variety and Mucuna cochinchinensis (Lour.) A. Chev. White seeds variety. In the present study, an attempt was made to analyse and evaluate the presence of various phytoconstituents as well as fluorescent characteristics of seeds of Mucuna sps. Along with this, during the research work, physicochemical parameters were also determined. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analysis of the aqueous and methanolic extracts of seeds showed the presence of various phytoconstituents i.e. carbohydrates, reducing sugar, hexose sugar, proteins, amino acids, steroids, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins and phenols. It was observed that all the extracts show more important chemical constituents for various pharmacological activities. In fluorescent analysis characteristic colours were observed with different chemical reagents in seed powder extracts under visible and UV light (short and long wavelength). The determination of these characters will aid future investigators in their Pharmacological analysis of this species. The phytochemical analysis of the plants is very important commercially and has great interest in pharmaceutical companies for the production of the new drugs for curing of various diseases