Preliminary successive solvent extraction, phytochemical screening and HPLC-PDA fingerprinting of Terminalia chebula Retz. fruit pulp

Background. The dried fruit pulp of Terminalia chebula contains chemically diverse secondary metabolites. This preliminary study determined the successive solvent extractive values, qualitative phytochemical profiles and HPLC-PDA fingerprint of one authenticated fruit-pulp batch. Methods. Mature fruits collected in September 2020 from Sathyamangalam forest, Tamil Nadu, were authenticated, dried and powdered. A 500 g sample underwent successive hot percolation with petroleum ether, chloroform, acetone and 95% ethanol (72 h each), followed by 72 h aqueous-stage maceration with 10 mL chloroform added as preservative. One extraction series was performed (n = 1). Qualitative phytochemical tests were recorded as positive or negative. The aqueous extract was fingerprinted by HPLC-PDA at 270 nm. Results. The extractive yields for petroleum ether, chloroform, acetone, ethanol and the aqueous stage were 2.8%, 1.5%, 2.1%, 7.2% and 13.8% w/w, respectively. The aqueous extract gave the highest recovery (69.0 g), and the ethanol extract showed the broadest positive screening profile (nine operational test categories). Phenolic reactions were positive in acetone, ethanol and water-stage extracts, although the separately recorded tannin tests showed discordant results. Molisch reactions in the glycoside screen were non-specific and did not confirm glycosides. A major HPLC-PDA peak at 7.569 min was tentatively assigned to gallic acid, and five further peak regions were tentatively assigned to hydrolysable tannin and phenolic acid markers. Conclusion. This single-run study provides preliminary descriptive evidence of polarity-dependent extractive recovery and heterogeneous qualitative phytochemical profiles. The aqueous extract gave the highest yield, whereas the ethanol extract showed the broadest screening profile. Molecular identities, glycoside status and constituent concentrations were not confirmed; replicate extractions and comparison with authenticated reference standards are required.