Abstract

APPRAISAL OF IMPORTANT BIOACTIVE PHYTOCONSTITUENTS IN LEAF AND POD SAMPLES OF CITULRLUS COLOCYNTHIS (L.) SCHARD (FAMILY: CUCURBITACEAE) BY APPLICATION OF GC-MS

*Murugesan Selvaraj and Muthusamy Mosses

ABSTRACT

Citrullus colocynthis (L.) schrad is an important medicinal plant belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae that has traditionally been used as an abortifacient and to treat constipation, oedema, bacterial infections, cancer and diabetes. Leaf and pod samples of the plant were subjected to phytochemical investigation through Gas chromatography – Mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and the compounds responsible for the biological activity were identified. The GC-MS analysis of methanolic extracts of leaf and pod samples of C. colocynthis revealed that the presence of seventeen and thirty four compounds respectively. The first compound identified with retention time (6.55 and 8.22 min) of leaf and pod extracts were Benzofuran, 2, 3,-dihydro- and 4-nonenal, (E). The prevailing compounds in the methanolic extract of leaf sample were 3,7,11,15, -Tetamethyl-2-hexadecen-1-ol(11.38%), Oleyl alcohol, (11.38%), Stigmasterol (6.91%) and Benzofuran, 2,3-dihydro- (5.15%) similarly, major compounds of pod sample were 9, 12-Octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)-, methyl ester (43.87%), Cannabinol, Pentafluoropropinonate (13.58%), Germanicol (6.36%) and Hexadecanoic acid, Methyl ester (6.09%). About 80% of the identified compounds contribute to various biological, medicinal and insecticidal properties in particular. The results of the present work indicate that C. colocynthis extracts could be used for natural medicine to human health and botanical insecticide for important crop pests and vectors.

Keywords: Citrullus colocynthis, Botanical insecticide, GC-MS, Medicinal plant, Phytochemical.