QUALITATIVE PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF SWEET ORANGE (Citrus sinensis) PEEL EXTRACT-A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Citrus sinensis is a rich source of bioactive compounds and the peels of this fruit also contain many phytochemicals. The present study highlights the impact different solvents on extraction yields and preliminary phytochemical screening of orange peels. The results obtained from this study reflect that solvent plays a very important role in extraction yield and in solubilizing biochemical compounds present in orange peels. Methanol has been identified as one of the effective extraction solvent in this study, resulting in the highest extraction yield (28%) in comparison to two other solvents used i.e. distilled water and ethanol. The preliminary phytochemical screening by qualitative tests reveals the maximum presence of phytochemical in methanol based cold percolation extraction method. The major phytochemicals found in orange peels were terpenoids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, and phenols. The phytochemicals found in the orange peels have various medicinal properties such as antiproliferative, anti-diabetic, antihypertensive, and anti-cancerous.