The Faculty of Pharmacy discussed the master’s thesis tagged “Phytochemical Investigation of Portulacaria afra Jacq “Didiereaceae” cultivated in Iraq” by Ali Hasan Husain AL-Tamimi and her supervisor Professor, Dr. Enas Jawad Kadhim in the Pharmacognosy and Medicinal Plants Department. The thesis aimed to study the phytochemical constituents of Portulacaria afra Jacq cultivated in Iraq. The study included the entire spekboom plant, which was collected, dried, ground to a fine powder, and extracted using the Soxhlet apparatus with 750 ml of 85% aqueous ethanol (the hot method). A rotary evaporator was used to concentrate the extract. The resulting extract was successfully partitioned using solvents of different polarities, including n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol, respectively. The resulting parts were subjected to a general phytochemical examination, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), thin-layer chromatography (TLC) uses different solvent systems and UV at 254 nm and 365 nm and uses unique reagents for detection such as (NP\PEG for flavonoids and idoplatinate for alkaloids) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used to perform an initial identification of the various active ingredients. The compounds were isolated and purified by preparative layer chromatography (PLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results demonstrate the isolation, identification, and quantification of seven compounds, including a new alkaloid. Various techniques (TLC, HPLC, UV-VIS Spectrometry, ATR-FTIR, APCI/CMS, H1NMR, and LC-QTOF-MS/MS) were used. The Isovitexin concentration was the highest and the Quercetin concentration was the lowest.
