Chemaicl Costituents of Black Pepper

Abstract

Black pepper (piperaceae) is a spice consumed by people all over the world. In addition to its common uses as a flavoring for foods; it also has several benefits in the medical field. In this research phytochemical screening has been applied to the ethanol extract of black pepper fruits, which indicated the presence of alkaloids, unsaturated sterols, triterpenes, and phenolic constituents in the extract, and the absence of saponins, falavonoids, and tannins. Piperine alkaloid which is the pungent principle of pepper, and also has significant important due to its several pharmacological effects, has been isolated from black pepper fruits, purified, and then identified using melting point apparatus, and IR spectroscopy. The isolated piperine also has been studied by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). Black pepper essential oil, from which the aroma odor of pepper comes from, has been also isolated from the fruits using water distillation technique, and its physical and chemical properties determined. The essential oil extracted from black pepper was studied by Thin Layer Chromatography.