QUANTITATION OF EUGENOL IN BETEL LEAF VARIETIES BY HPTLC

Betel leaves have been eaten traditionally as a quid in many South East Asian countries. Its taste and aroma is because of the presence of essential oils, namely eugenol. Eugenol is an important phytochemical with analgesic, anti inflammatory and anaesthetic properties. Eugenol further finds applications in cosmetics and food industry. Betel leaves being perishable, become a major concern for agro waste. Yellow dry leaves and the petioles also go waste. In this paper, HPTLC fingerprint and eugenol content were studied in three varieties of fresh betel leaves as also in yellow leaves and in their petioles. Seasonal variation in eugenol content was also studied. The fingerprint of the leaves showed 10 bands with one of the marker peaks at 0.35 which corresponded to eugenol. It was found that Benarasi betel leaf has maximum eugenol content (average 1.1104%). Nagarvelli and Kolkata leaves have comparable eugenol content (0.659% and 0.637% respectively). In all the three leaf varieties, eugenol content was found to be the highest in winter season, the least in rainy season and intermediate in summer. Yellow leaves of Nagarvelli and Benarasi varieties showed presence of considerable amount of eugenol. The petiole of Nagarvelli leaf also showed presence of eugenol content.