PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND GC-MS ANALYSIS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS FROM ABUTILON FRUTICOSUM GUILL AND PERR. A RARE AND ENDEMIC PLANT OF INDIAN THAR DESERT

Present work was aimed to determine, identify, and characterize the bioactive chemical compounds from methanolic leaves extract of Abutilon fruticosum by GC-MS analysis. Fresh disease-free leaves were collected shade dried and powdered for extraction with HPLC grade methanol. Preliminary phytochemical screening of methanolic leaves extract was performed using standard methods to determine the presence of different chemical compounds; the crude extract was subjected to GC- MS analysis for the identification of bioactive compounds. Phytochemical screening of methanolic leaves extracts revealed the presence of carbohydrates, proteins, alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, terpenes, phytosterols, etc. Furthermore, GC MS analysis of the extract revealed the presence of 65 bioactive compounds. Some major biologically active compounds identified were Azulene (24.91%), Hexadecanoic acid (13.27%), Phytol (9.51%), Beta-sitosterol (3.19%), Lupeol (1.21%), Campesterol (0.33%) etc. These chemical compounds are biologically active and pharmacologically important. The study provides detailed information about the identification and chemical characterization of various medicinally important phytocompounds from methanolic leaves extract of this plant. Although the plant is rare and endemic to Indian Thar Desert and previously not explored very much, such kind of study about this plant could provide valuable information to be used in pharmacological research.