Identification of phytoconstituents of Cirunakappu by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Introduction: Cirunakappu is the regional name of Cinnamomum wightii (flower bud) which is also known as Nagakesaram in Tamil. The flower bud of C. wightii is used in many Siddha formulations. The aim of this communication is to identify the phytoconstituents of few column chromatographic fractions of the ethanolic extract of Cirunakappu through gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Materials and Methods: Cirunakappu flower bud was coarsely powdered, extracted with ethanol at room temperature (yield: 184 g). This extract was subjected to column chromatography over silica gel and eluted with hexane and mixture of hexane and chloroform in increasing polarities. Fraction I eluted with hexane-chloroform (98:2), fraction II eluted with hexane-chloroform (90:10), fraction III eluted with hexane-chloroform (80:20), and fraction IV eluted with hexane-chloroform (50:50) were subjected to GC–MS using the HP 5 MS column of 30 m × 0.25 mm ID and 0.25 μm film thickness analysis. Results and Discussion: Fraction I yielded six peaks in which linalool, γ-muurolene, α-cadinol, γ-sitosterol, and n-hexadecanoic acid were identified. The fraction II separated 15 peaks, among which eugenol, δ-cadinene, epiglobulol, cadina-1,4-diene, triacontyl acetate, and 3,5-bis-tert-butylphenol were identified. Fraction III showed 15 peaks: α-copaene, cetene, (+)-epibicyclo-sesquiphellandrene, tetradecene, 1-octadecene, 1,2-dimethylcyclo hexadecane, 1-docosene, cyclotetracosane, and 1-nanodecene were identified. From fraction IV, γ-sitosterol, cetene, 1,2-diethyl-cyclohexadecane, 1-tetradecene, 1-eicosene, cyclotetracosane, 1-nanodecene, 1-octadecene, 2,4-bis-(1,1-dimethylethyl) phenol, and 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone were identified. Conclusion: These chemicals are 1st time explored from this plant.