Physicochemical Quality of Salacia chinensis Linn.

Abstract

       Khampang Jedchan or Salacia chinensis L., family Celastraceae has been widely used in Thai traditional medicine for treatment of hepatitis, muscle relaxant, blood tonic, asthma and diabetes. It is also included in the National Essential Drugs for treatment of amniotic fluid drive, blood tonic and help the uterus in women soon after birth. At present there is no standard specification in Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia yet. In 2013 – 2014, sixteen samples of stem of Salacia chinensis L. were collected from natural resources in the North East of Thailand were studied for physico-chemical properties. It was found that the contents of moisture, total ash, acid-insoluble ash, water-soluble extractive and ethanol-soluble extractive were 8.03 ± 0.72, 3.27 ± 0.25, 0.18 ± 0.05, 5.62 ± 1.07 and 6.28 ± 0.97% w/w respectively. The chemical identification of the water extract was carried out by Thin Layer Chromatography, using TLC plate silica gel 60 F254 and mixture of hexane-ethyl acetate 20 : 80 as the mobile phase. The plate was examined under ultraviolet light 254 and 366 nm, then sprayed with vanillin-sulfuric acid, and heated at 110°C for 5 minutes. The results of this study can be used to set up the chemical specifications of Khampang Jedchan which will be useful for quality control of this crude drug.