The Chemical Study of Calotropis

Calotropis (Asclepiadaceae) commonly known as “madar” is a useful medicinal plant. The two species i.e. Calotropis gigantea and Calotropis procera are to a great extent having a very similar chemical properties, but the colours of their flowers are different. The pH of latex of these two species has been found different in the present study. The temperature effects have been noticed on their pH values which is varying from 7.2 to 8.1 between the temperatures 25 °C to 45 °C and then remains constant for Calotropis gigantia . The milky latex contains hydrocarbons, fatty acids, sterols and terpenels. Seven spots have been observed on the TLC plates; out of which 3 were identified as calotoxin, uscharin and calactin. Aluminum, calcium, cadmiun, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, magnese, magnesium, nickel, lead, and zinc metal elements were investigated in the latex and similarly in the leaves and bark from the AA spectra. The amount of magnese was found the highest in the latex of both species but calcium was found highest in leaves and bark of both species. Copper, chromium and lead were not found at all in latex but a very little amount of copper and lead were found in leaves and bark. The atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to investigate the metals which were measured in the order of ppm.