IDENTIFICATION OF PHYTOCHEMICALS IN EXTRACT FROM Morus Nigra L. QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

The blackberry (Morus nigra L.), belongs to the Moraceae family, is a plant originating in Asia with widespread use in this region. In Brazil, the fruits and leaves are used in traditional medicine. The project aimed to identify the qualitative presence of phytochemicals classes in the extracts of the blackberry (Morus Nigra L.) cultivated in Campinas city - São Paulo, Brazil. The blackberry underwent a crushing process using pestle and mortar, followed by a cold extraction process with methanol solvent, in a 1:3 fruit/solvent ratio for 7 days to obtain the fruit extract. Were investigated phytochemical classes according to colorimetric methods to detect phenols, tannins, anthocyanidins, flavonoids, leucoanthocyanidins, catechins, flavanones, triterpenoids, steroids, saponins, anthraquinones and alkaloids in the extract. The presence of phenols, flavonoids, leucoanthocyanidins, catechins, alkaloids, and saponins classes was detected by the qualitative methods but not found in tannins, anthocyanidins, and flavanones classes. Fruit of popular knowledge, easy access, and cultivation, encouraging their consumption can be a possibility to improve the consumption of fresh food, preserve the health of the local population, decrease and control chronic diseases as well as diseases of the apparatus circulatory, malignant neoplasms, diabetes mellitus and some types of chronic respiratory diseases. More research and refined methods are still needed to allow the identification of the amount of bioactive compounds and their effects on human health.