Elucidation of bioactive compounds in hydroalcohol extract of Phyllanthus amarus Schum. and Thonn. leaf using GC-MS analysis

Abstract

Phyllanthus amarus is one of the most important medicinal plant in tropical and subtropical nations which are used for stomach, liver, kidney and spleen diseases treatment. This work involves the elucidation of the phytochemical constituents in 70% ethanolic leaf extract of P. amarus. Phytochemical screening, quantitative and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses were carried out on the extract. The qualitative and quantitative analyses showed the presence of the following phytochemicals and their contents in mg/100g of extract as phenolic (34.31 ± 0.07), tannin (21.15 ± 0.16), phlobatanin (26.36 ± 0.19), terpernoid (14.71 ± 0.14), steroid (20.37 ± 0.13), cardiac glycoside (20.15 ± 0.19) and alkaloid (23.90±0.05), and absence of flavonoids and saponins. 9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid, ethyl ester (Z,Z,Z)- (22.47%), Benzenamine, N-[2-(3,4- dimethoxyphenyl)ethyl]-2-nitro- (12.68%), hexadecanoic acid, ethyl ester (12.63%), Beta Tocopherol (12.63%) and phytol (12.61%) were revealed by GC-MS as the major bioactive constituents. The results of this study validated the rich bioactive constituents in P. amarus which may be the reason the plant is being used for the treatment of various ailments.