Phytochemical screening of Acacia auriculiformis leaf ethanol extract

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the countries that has a very diverse biodiversity of more than 38,000 plant species, about 55% of which are endemic plants. Based on data from the WHO (World Health Organization), approximately 3.4 billion people in developing countries depend on traditional medicine derived from plants. In fact, about 20,000 plant species originating from the Indonesian Tropical Forests are widely used as ingredients for natural medicines by residents throughout Indonesia, one of which is the acacia plant. (Data from the Ministry of Environment in 2010 The purpose of this study was to determine the content of secondary metabolites contained in the ethanol extract of acacia leaves. phytochemical tests that have been carried out using ethanol solvent, obtained secondary metabolite content in the ethanolic extract of acacia leaves, namely alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols and saponins while terpenoid compounds were not found. This is because the solvent used is ethanol which is polar. Alkaloid compounds, flavonoids, and saponins are polar and generally can be attracted by polar solvents such as ethanol. Terpenoid compounds were not found because these compounds are non-polar and can be dissolved by non-polar solvents such as n-hexane.