Qualitative tests for preliminary phytochemical screening: An overview

Medicinal plants have been used in the treatment of various diseases as they possess potential pharmacological activities including antineoplastic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesics, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, antidiarrheal and other activities. Phytoconstituents individually or in the combination, determine the therapeutic value of a medicinal plant. Alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, saponins, steroids, glycosides, terpenes etc. are some of the important phytochemicals with diverse biological activities. The pharmacological activity of a plant can be predicted by the identification of the phytochemicals. Currently, phytochemicals are determined by various modern…