Tannin chemistry of Terminalia chebula and Caesalpinia digyna: Evaluation of bioactive potential Tannins and related polyphenols are fascinating natural products with diverse implications for biological systems, ecology, industrial applications and health protection. Plants accumulate a wide variety of “secondary” compounds, including alkaloids, terpenes and phenolics. All phenolic compounds (primary and secondary) are, in one way or other, formed via the shikimic acid pathway, also known as the phenylpropanoid pathway. The chemical relativities and biological activities make tannin a group of phenolic compounds distinguished from other plant secondary phenolics. Optimization of process parameters involved in the extraction of total polyphenol content (TPC) was carried out using evolutionary operator design (EVOP) to extract TPC in an efficient way, with minimal input from ethno pharmacologically important plants (herbs used by ancient Indians). The extracted TPC are tested for its pharmaceutical application as antioxidant, antiviral, immunomodulatory, anticancerous potential and in cosmetic industries because of its antityrosinase activity. In mice animal model, the anti-diabetic potential of the extracted compound showed a reduction of blood glucose at lower dose per body weight. To see the interaction of polyphenol with protein a modelling experiment was carried at different polyphenol and gelatin concentration. To validate the effect on oral administration of TPC, the effects on the digestive enzymes (pepsin, trypsin, lipase, amylase, salivary proteins) have also been studied. The micro molecules are separated by using silica column chromatography and the composition were analyzed by TLC and HPLC. The characterization of each component was analyzed by proton NMR and MS.
Author : Ranjan Kumar Nanda
Guide : Dr. Rintu Banerjee
Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, 2007