Preliminary screening of phytochemicals is a valuable step in the detection of bioactive principles present in medicinal plants, which subsequently may lead to drug discovery and development. In the present study, chief phyto-constituents of the Momordica cymbalaria were identified. Preliminary screening of phytochemicals was done by using three extraction methods: maceration, soxhlation and reflux with hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol. All the nine extracts showed the presence of flavonoids, phenols, steroids and terpenoids that were obtained by the three extraction methods. The present work also attempted to optimize the HPTLC fingerprint profiles of secondary metabolites in hexane, ethyl acetate and methanolic fruit extracts of M. cymabalaria. Soxhlated methanolic fruit extract was rich in secondary compounds and exhibited more biological activity than the other extracts. Hence future study is needed to isolate potential bioactive principle from fruit extract of M. cymbalaria.

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