Preliminary phytochemical analysis of Amaranthus viridis

Abstract

Medicinal plants have compounds which are used for treating various human diseases and also play an important role in curing diseases. Phytochemicals have two categories i.e., primary and secondary constituents. Phytochemicals are certain non-nutritive plant chemicals which have some disease preventive properties. The aqueous extract of leaves of the fresh Amaranthus viridis was screened for the presence of different phytochemical by standard procedure. The present study indicates that the fresh plant contains different classes of secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, steroids, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, cardiac glycosides, tannins etc. The presence of these secondary metabolites signifies the potential of Amaranthus viridis as a source of therapeutic agent.