ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ARISTOLOCHIC ACID - I FROM ARISTOLOCHIA INDICA LINN. LEAVES

Aristolochic Acids (AAs) are major components of plants in Aristolochia species. The plant Aristolochia indica Linn. has diverse biological actions such as analgesic, anti-diabetics, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and treatment of malaria and fevers. Here, we report a new and simple isolation method of Aristolochic Acid-Ι (AA-I) from leaves of Aristolochia indica Linn. Defatted leaves of A. indica were extracted with chloroform by soxhlation. AA-I was further isolated from the chloroform extract by partitioning with aqueous sodium bicarbonate. AA-I was purified by repetitive washings with methanol and recrystallization in methanol yielded yellow leaflets. The purity of the isolated compound was ascertained by HPLC analysis. structural elucidation of the isolated compound was done by IR, MS and NMR spectral analysis.