Preliminary studies on the extraction of Glycospanonins in Tongkat Ali extract

Eurycoma longifolia, locally known as Tongkat Ali, is a famous medicinal plant in the family of Simaroubaceae and well known for its aphrodisiac properties from its water extract. The root of E. longifolia is used to extract wide range bioactive components of Tongkat Ali. Previous works standardised Tongkat Ali extracts by measuring the concentration of eurycomanone, a quassinoid marker chemical, within the overall extract. There is a newer Malaysian standard that specifies that Tongkat Ali can be standardised to glycosaponin, thus it is desired to determine how extraction parameters such as particle size, extraction temperature, and solvent type affects the glycosaponin content in the extract. The overall study is aimed to determine how the extraction parameters affect the glycosaponin amount in extract. This paper presents the preliminary work where in this study the effect of particle size on overall extract and glycosaponin quantification method development is presented. A reflux extraction method was used to extract Tongkat Ali with a particle size of 0.5 mm, 1.0 mm and 2.0 mm of raw material to study effect of particle size on overall extract. Water and methanol were the two types of solvent used for extraction to study the quantity of glycosaponin.