REVIEW ON PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL PROFILE OF RICINUS COMMUNIS AND CALOTROPIS PROCERA

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants have been used as a primary source of medicine since
ancient times. Many of the currently available medicines can be obtained
directly in extract form or as a modified synthetic form. Plants have the
ability to produce goods that are helpful to us, such as phytoconstituents,
which are employed to perform biological processes and defend us against
predators like viruses, fungus, and other bacteria. One of the most successful
ways for discovering novel medications is to use phytoconstituents derived
from natural materials. The plants contain various classes of bioactive
secondary metabolites such as terpenoids, flavonoids, saponins, steroids and
cardiac glycosides. Phytochemicals reported from the Calotropis plant were
sterols, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, and hydrocarbons were
isolated from the plant. Due to presence of these phytochemicals the plant is
known to possess a wide range of pharmacological activities such as
anticancer, acaricidal, schizonticidal, antimicrobial, anthelmintic,
insecticidal, anti-inflammatory, antidiarrheal, anticancerous, and larvicidal
activities with other beneficial properties. In this review, focus has been
given on the phytochemical and pharmacological properties of Calotropis
procera and Ricinus communis.