In general I agree with the comments of my colleagues listed above.  A nice aspect is that some extractants have selectivity.  If you are interested in flavour compounds (usually non-polar) hexane is much better the water.  

In our experience acetone is an outstanding extractant for dried plant leaves for extracting a wide variety of compounds.  The reason is because it is miscible with water and with something as non-polar as hexane.  It is also very easy to remove, less toxic than ethanol to animals and microorganisms and is relatively cheap.

Two papers available here (Which extractant should be used for the screening and isolation of antimicrobial components from plants?JN Eloff and Extraction of antibacterial compounds from Combretum microphyllum (Combretaceae) M Kotze, JN Eloff)  addresses this problem and have been cited 777 and 118 times. 

after  complete  remove of the previous solvent  you can used

Dear Sheron

There are wide range of phytochemicals in plant. Some are soluble in water,Some are in Alcohol and Some in Hexane.  It is not possible at all to extract all phytochemicals in  single solvent.So you start extraction from Non Polar Solvent to Polar e.g Hexane or Petroleum ether then  Chloroform  then Ethyl Acetate then Ethanol/Methanol then Water. Each fraction should be concentrate separately and used for HPTLC fingerprinting. You can refer books on phytochemistry for selection of Solvent System e.g Plant Drug Analysis by Wagner etc.

Good Luck

HI

For phytochemical screening, single solvent not possible at all.

Because there are polar and non polar phytochemicals present in plants.

in general, use alcohols like methanol for maximum desired result. 

otherwise use water methanol 80: 20, get the extract and screen it. 

another experiment use hexane or other non polar solvents get the extract and screen it.

But there in no ''standard method''. it is only ''preferred method''.search few articles and majority of expriement and best result basis work on it

all the best

Thank you all for your valuable answers. 

I further would like to confirm, if I should use the same sample and extract with different solvents or use the sample separately for each solvent? And also, how do I decide which method to be followed, for example, maceration or soxhlet?

One more query I had was, if I had to detect just one compound, should I use a method that selectively extracts only that class of compounds? 

Thank you in advance

Single solvent not possible.Use different solvents Polar, non polar and solvents of intermediate polarity. Different solvents extract different compounds.

Dear  Sharon

I think methanol is a wide rang solvent that can solve many compounds from plants such as phytochemicals this solvent can solve polar and non polar materials and for general extracting is a good solvent. 

there is no single solution you can use in this case, unless and until you are looking for specific compound, even though you have to use multiple steps to get your compound.

also you have to consider the type of plant. 

I am agree with mohammad Alsaiqali that it is beter to extract by a few solvent , our extraction methods almost are not intelligent so we must try with different polarity solvent , but when we want extract total extract and have not target for a special group of coppounds may be we use one solvent and it is methanol or similar it? as example..

if you have to try different solvents with the same sample, and check what you are getting. then you will come to know what is what?

all the best

For extraction , you must start with non polar solvent and after that increase polarity (sequential extraction )

Bestwishesh

It is not possible to extract or release all phytochemicals in a plant using a single solvent; reason why  mixtures/combinations of different solvents or sequential extraction are usually used. Phytochemicals are arrays of different chemical compounds (secondary metabolites) produced in plant tissues and have different chemical properties (e.g. solubilities), what one solvent may not achieve, might be achieved by a different solvent or different combinations of solvents, or different sequences of solvents. That means therefore, your HPTLC fingerprint will be only true for a  particular extraction solvent used.

use sequential extraction

Using the polarity non polar to polar solvents can be selected. Methanolic extractions would do the best for hebal extractions

One solvent will extracts a few compounds so you must use different solvents to get all phytochemical 

Although no single solvent can extract all phytochemicals. The best solvent reported so far to extract most phytochemicals (flavonoids, phenolics and tannins based compounds) from marine and terrestrial natural products is methanol. 

no standard method for extracting all phytochemicals with one solvent, each phytochemical must be extracted by a different method with a different solvents.

In general I agree with the comments of my colleagues listed above.  A nice aspect is that some extractants have selectivity.  If you are interested in flavour compounds (usually non-polar) hexane is much better the water.  

In our experience acetone is an outstanding extractant for dried plant leaves for extracting a wide variety of compounds.  The reason is because it is miscible with water and with something as non-polar as hexane.  It is also very easy to remove, less toxic than ethanol to animals and microorganisms and is relatively cheap.

Two papers available here (Which extractant should be used for the screening and isolation of antimicrobial components from plants?JN Eloff and Extraction of antibacterial compounds from Combretum microphyllum (Combretaceae) M Kotze, JN Eloff)  addresses this problem and have been cited 777 and 118 times. 

No solvent will extract all phytochemicals due to polarity and ability of the solvent to retain the compound. You can only use specific solvents to extract specific compounds. Not all the phytochemicals will dissolve in one solvent

your best option is Methanol.

Hi,

select plant material you want to screen. powder it to course size then blend uniformly. 

each time take 5 to 10gm extract with one solvent. use fresh sample from blend and continue with the other solvent.( same sample don not try for different solvent).

you can use maceration or soxhlet or convensional extraction but temperature not exceeding 60 to 70 degree will be good.( not possible in soxhlet). 

finally, here two things, 1. combine all the solvent fraction and vacum distill below 70C or evaporate under nitrogen environment and run the screening.

2. Evaporate the solvent individually and run the screening individually 

All the best

Sharon Kadirvelu,

Hi, 

For any extraction, fundamentally solvent choice is form lower polar to highest polar i.e water is the sequence of choice for any extraction.

Definitely you are going to get the results if you floow the proper sequence, as I have got always the desired results.

Do properly sucess is yours.

Best luck.

Sequential Extraction -Hexane, Ethyle acetate, Methanol and finally Hydroalcoholic (Ethanol :Water::70:30)....

Cheers,

Phytochemicals are extremely deverse !. You've to use different polarity solvents to be sure that you'll extract the maximum of desired compounds !. You must start by non polar solvents like hexane then you can use chloroform, ethyl acetate then methanol and finally water.

Have a good luck.

Methanol can collect much of the phytochemicals but not ideal for yield of non-polar compounds, hence, good to do sequential extraction using different solvent gradients.

Sharon Kadirvelu

you can simplely fallow thumbe rule like dissolved like

50% methanol in water will do a good Job in the extraction and extract virtually all phytochemicals.

Methanol can essentially get you a broad spectrum of phytochemicals. However, due to differences in intrinsic properties (polarity, etc), the yields of some may be less than optimal

Νot possible to extract phytochemicals in one solvent.Better use solvents of different polarity

Use mixtures of solvents having different polarities