GC-MS phytochemical profiling of leaf extracts of Aristolochia tagala Cham., a rare and important ethnomedicinal plant

Abstract

The current study was aimed at obtaining the phytochemical profile of leaf extracts of Aristolochia tagala Cham., a rare ethnomedicinal plant by GC-MS analysis. The chromatograms of GC-MS analysis of methanol, chloroform, and petroleum ether extracts of leaf showed 39, 37, and 30 peaks respectively. The mass of compounds and fragments recorded were matched with NIST 11 and Wiley 8 libraries for the identification of probable compounds which accounted for a total of 71 different phytochemical compounds present in the tested sample. Some compounds appeared in all the solvent extracts but others were unique to specific solvent extract. Out of 71 recorded compounds, 14 were sesquiterpenes, 10 compounds could be categorized as other terpenoids or compounds containing isoprene units, 4 as steroids, 4 as other aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, fatty acids and their esters accounted for 18 compounds and remaining 21 compounds were other hydrocarbons. Most of these compounds are recorded for the first time in this species. This valuable data can be further employed to know the phytocompounds available in large quantities in this plant which has therapeutic properties that can form the basis for pharmaceutical research to develop drugs for efficient disease control.