GC-MS Analysis of Phytocompounds of Leaf and Stem of Marsilea quadrifolia (L.)

Objective: To investigate the phytochemical constituents of methanolic extracts of leaf and stem of Marsilea quadrifolia (Linn.).

Methods: The methanolic leaf and stem extracts of M. quadrifolia were prepared by standard procedure and concentrated at 40ºC using hot air oven. The concentrated methanolic extracts were subjected to phytochemical analysis using GC-MS.

Results: The GC-MS analyes showed that the presence of 39 phytocompounds in the methanolic extract of leaf of M. quadrifolia including 4H-Pyran-4-one,2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-(21.41%); n-Hexadecanoic acid (17.47%); 9,12,15-Octadecatrienoic acid,methylester (Z,Z,Z)-(12.96%); 2-Furancarboxaldehyde,5-(hydroxyl methyl)-(9.39%) and 9,12,15-Octadecatrien-1-ol (Z,Z,Z)-(3.54%). The methanolic extract of stem of M. quadrifolia revealed that the presence of 29 bioactive compounds including 2-Furancarboxaldehyde, 5-(hydroxymethyl)-(60.42%); 4H-Pyran-4-one, 2, 3-dihydro-3, 5-di hydroxyl-6-methyl-(13.88%); n-Hexadecanoic acid-(6.00%); 6-Octadecenoic acid (Z)-(2.69%) and Furfural-(2.23%).

Conclusions: The result of the GC-MS analysis showed that the methanolic extract of M. quadrifolia contains many pharmacologically important bioactive compounds. However M. quadrifolia is an important medicinal plant and used in the traditional system of medicine to cure many diseases including diabetes mellitus. So there are need of further studies to isolate and identify the specific phytocompound involved in controlling diseases and ultimately which may lead to drug development.