Identification of flavonoids from the aquatic pteridophyte Azolla microphylla using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography

Abstract

Among the several phytochemical constituents flavonoids are important as they exhibit considerable antioxidant activity and are also reported to have antimicrobial activity. Hence in this study HPTLC analysis was carried out to detect flavonoids using Chloroform-Ethyl acetate-Glacial acetic acid as mobile phase and quercetin and kaempferol as standard. The whole plants of Azolla microphylla showed at least eight different types of flavonoids with Rf values ranging between 0.06 to 0.97 and the flavonoids identified in the extracts were quercetin and kaempferol.