Yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims) is widely cultivated for its nutritional and commercial value, generating a considerable quantity of seed waste during juice processing. Although the pulp has been extensively investigated, the phytochemical composition of the seeds remains comparatively unexplored despite their potential as a valuable source of bioactive compounds. The present study aimed to perform a preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening of yellow passion fruit seed extracts prepared using solvents of different polarities, namely chloroform, methanol, and distilled water. Mature seeds were separated from fresh fruits, washed thoroughly, shade-dried, powdered, and subjected to cold maceration extraction. The obtained extracts were screened using standard qualitative phytochemical methods to detect major classes of secondary metabolites.

The qualitative analysis revealed that terpenoids were present in all three solvent extracts. Steroids, phytosterols, and anthraquinone glycosides were detected exclusively in the chloroform extract, whereas alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, phlobatannins, lignins, quinones, anthocyanins, and coumarins were not detected in any of the extracts. The findings demonstrate that solvent polarity significantly influences the recovery of phytochemicals, with the non-polar chloroform extract exhibiting a broader spectrum of lipophilic bioactive constituents than the polar solvents.

This preliminary investigation indicates that yellow passion fruit seeds possess valuable phytochemical constituents and may serve as a promising agro-industrial by-product for future nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and functional food applications. Further quantitative phytochemical characterization and biological activity studies are recommended to validate these findings.