Phytochemical and Quality Assessment of Acacia nilotica Linn and Acacia leucophloea willd Flowers

Objective: The quality criteria for herbal drugs are based on a clear scientific definition of the raw material. Even though global herbal resources have a great potential as natural drugs and are of great commercial importance, they are very often procured and processed without any scientific evaluation, and launched onto the market without any mandatory safety and toxicology studies. On that basis, an attempt was made on a well-known herbal drug A.nilotica flower and A.leucophloea flower by evaluation of phytochemical and toxicological parameters like heavy metals, aflatoxins, total microbial load and pesticide residues. Method: The procedures recommended in AOAC, ASTA were followed to determine analysis of heavy metals, aflatoxins, microbial load and pesticide residues. Thin layer chromatographic technique was used to separate the chemical compounds present in the drug. Result and Conclusion: Results obtained during this experiment revealed that heavy metals, aflatoxins, total microbial load and pesticidal residues were variable but found within the prescribed limits. Phytochemical evaluation revealed that the catechin phytoconstituents is absent in A.leucophloea flowers when compared with A.nilotica flowers. Hence, there is an urgent need for mandatory evaluation of these parameters in every crude drug before further processing to ensure safety and efficacy of Indian medicinal plants for better acceptance at International platform. The study revealed specific identities for the particular crude drug which will be useful in identification and control to adulterations of the raw drug.