PHYTOCHEMICAL RESEARCH OF POPULUS ALBA L. Khurilenko A.P., Borodina N.V., Rudnik A.M. National University of Pharmacy, Kharkiv, Ukraine [email protected] There are about 30 kinds of Populus in Ukraine. Their bark, buds and the leaves of Populus which contain phenolic glycosides, fl avonoids, tannin, organic acids, vitamins, terpenoids. However the Poplar genus plants aren’t studied enough. Populus alba, commonly called abele, silver poplar, silverleaf poplar, or white pop- lar, is a species of poplar, most closely related to the aspens (Populus sect. Populus). It is native from Spain and Morocco through central Europe (north to Germany and Poland) to central Asia. It grows in moist sites, often by watersides, in regions with hot summers and cold to mild winters. Populus alba L. is a huge tree. Its height is up to 30m (rarely more), with a trunk up to 2 m diameter and a broad rounded crown. The bark is smooth and greenish-white to greyish-white with characteristic diamond-shaped dark marks on young trees, becom- ing blackish and fi ssured at the base of old trees. The young shoots are covered with whitish-grey down, including the small buds. The leaves are 4-15 cm long, fi ve-lobed, with a thick covering of white scurfy down on both sides but thicker underneath; this layer wears off the upper side but not the lower, which stays white until autumn leaf fall. Larger, deeply lobed leaves are produced on fast-growing young trees, and smaller, less deeply lobed leaves on older, slow-growing trees.The buds are tarry. The growth of tree is very quickly. Our goal is the research of qualitative composition and quantitative composition of fl avonoids in the leaves of Populus alba L. These leaves were gathered for the research in Kharkov, Donetsk regions and in the Crimea in 2011-2012. There were pointed the presence of phenolic compounds (phenolic glycosides , fl avonoids, tannin) when the primary studying of the Populus alba L. leaves was. The presence of fl avonoids was defi ned in the ethanol extracts with cyanidin test, ferric(III) chloride. In results of reac- tion show the presence of fl avonoid aglycones and glycosides. Besides the substances of fl avonoids were discovered due to chromatographic method. For this method the paper ”Filtrak”(FN №№ 1,4,12) and silica gel TLC plats were used. In accordance with the reference pattern rutin, quercetin, ferulic, chlorogenic, salicylic asides were identifi ed. The method of spectrophotometry(410 nm on the spectrophotometr СФ-46) was applied for the analysis of fl avonoids. The contain of fl avonoids is turned out not less 1,2%. The Populus alba L. has the practical interest as a source for getting plant drugs of many-sided pharmacological action due to considerable quantity of phenolic compounds. 38.