Ganapathy Murugan Alagu Lakshmanan

Identification of Bioactive Compounds from Selected Plectranthus Species by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy

Abstract Plectranthus (Linn) is a typical genus of the Indian flora. It had been used in the folk medicines for its several medicinal properties. Little previous phytochemical investigation has been conducted on three Plectranthus species used in traditional medicine. In this study, three species of Plectranthus, varying in growth type (small herbs, shrubs) and traditional usage were investigated for the presence of various biochemical compounds. In the present study, the three economically valuable Plectranthus species such as P. amboinicus (Spreng), P. coleoides (Benth) and P. vettiveroides (Jacob) were selected for phytochemical studies through Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy to identify the phytochemical constituents and functional groups of the compounds. Total 148 phytochemical constituents were identified. The commonly available compounds are Octa decanoic acid, Stigmasterol, Hexa decanoic acid and Ergosterol. The active phytochemical compounds were identified with Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectroscopy and their retention time, percentage of area, molecular weight and chemical formula with help of NIST08 and WILEY8 libraries. Accordingly 2-methoxy 4-ethyl 6-methyl phenol, Octa decanoic acid and Spathulenol were derived from P. amboinicus (Spreng), P. coleoides (Benth) and P. vettiveroides (Jacob) respectively. The functional groups are alkanes, amides, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, Iso cynate, ketone, phenols, Chloro compounds, alcohols and alkyl compounds were identified through FT-IR analysis of the selected Plectranthus species.