The Journal of Phytopharmacology, 2020;9(5):342-347 DOI:10.31254/phyto.2020.9509

Research Article

Phytochemical Screening of Plant Extracts and GC-MS Analysis of n-Hexane Extract of the Leaves of Cassia alata Linn

Koushik Saha¹ , Rezwana Zaman Proma¹ , Nasima Khan¹

Koushik Saha,Rezwana Zaman Proma,Nasima Khan

1. Department of Chemistry, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342, Bangladesh

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 9th August, 2020 / Accepted: 10th September, 2020

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to undergo the preliminary phytochemical screening of the plant extracts and identify the presence of pharmacologically bioactive constituents in the leaves of Cassia alata by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. The preliminary phytochemical screening of different leaf extracts of Cassia alata revealed the presence of various phytochemical compounds such as terpenoids, steroids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, quinones, carbohydrates, tannins and alkaloids. Qualitative and quantitative determination of different biologically active compounds from the crude n-hexane extract using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry disclosed 20 compounds with varying amounts where main components were identified as palmitic acid (26.65%), stearic acid (14.27%), (E)-9-octadecadienoic acid (11.40%), erucylamide (8.34%), 1,19-eicosadiene (5.15%), stigmasterol (4.68%), linoleic acid (4.06%), vitamin E (3.97%), methyl palmitate (3.93%) and methyl 11-octadecenoate (3.32%). The compounds identified through this investigation may be responsible for any of the pharmacological properties of Cassia alata and could be of considerable interests for the development of new drug leads.