IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS FROM OPERCULINA TURPETHUM (L.) SILVA MANSO LEAF BY HPLC METHOD

Plants served as potent sources of bioactive compounds since ages. The understanding of phytochemical constitution of each and every plant on earth is the preliminary and the most important step in drug discovery. As Operculina turpethum(L.) Silva Manso is traditionally used for various ailments, the understanding of phytochemical composition of the plant is very essential.  The present study was an attempt to identify the phenolic compounds present in the leaf of the plant O. turpethum. Total phenol and flavonoid content was determined from the methanol extract of the leaf and the extract was subjected to HPLC analysis with seven standard compounds. A gradient mobile phase comprising acetonitrile and 0.1% phosphoric acid was used to get the phenolic profile. The quantity of each compound present in the extract was calculated from the peak area and expressed in mg/ ml of sample injected. The first mobile phase revealed the presence of compounds viz., coumarin, ferulic acid, catechin, salicylic acid, rutin, vanillin and gallic acid. Among the seven identified phenolics, coumarin was present in highest concentration (0.34mg/ml of sample injected) and vaniilin was present in least amount (0.002mg/ml of sample injected). All the compounds identified are reported to have pharmacological activities. This report is the first report on the identification of phytochemicals from the O. turpethum leaf.