Isolation & Characterization of Plumbagin from the Roots of Plumbago zeylanica
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Abstract
The well-known medicinal plant Plumbago zeylanica is well-known for its bioactive component, plumbagin, a naphthoquinone with remarkable pharmacological qualities, including as anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and antibacterial activities. For plumbagin to be used in medicine, it must be extracted effectively and thoroughly characterized. The objective of this study was to optimize a procedure for plumbagin extraction, fractionation, and characterization from Plumbago zeylanica roots. Using a suitable solvent solution and the Soxhlet extraction procedure, a plumbagin-rich crude extract was produced. The crude extract was fractionated using column chromatography, and fractions containing plumbagin were identified using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) by comparing their Rf values with a standard. Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mass spectrometry (MS), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and UV-Vis spectroscopy, the isolated compound was thoroughly characterized. 7.2% (w/w) crude extract and 2.81% (w/w) plumbagin were produced using the optimized extraction and fractionation process. The extract's Rf value was found to be 0.86. The existence of plumbagin was verified by UV-Vis spectroscopy, which showed distinctive absorption maxima at 265 nm. This identification was confirmed by FTIR analysis, which showed peaks that matched the naphthoquinone structure. Additional structural information was revealed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy, which verified the existence of particular protons and carbons in the molecule. In order to facilitate future research into plumbagin's therapeutic potential and increase its usefulness in the pharmaceutical and medical fields, this work develops an effective methodology for extracting and characterizing plumbagin from Plumbago zeylanicaroots.