Quantitative phytochemical credential of Nakshtra plants and distribution analysis of aldehydes pertaining to LC-MS

Ajam C Shaikh, Amit Gupta and Sushama R Chaphalkar*
Vidya of Pratishthan’s School Biotechnology (VSBT, Research Centre affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University), Baramati, Maharashtra, India

A B S T R A C T
According to the WHO, above 80% of the world’s population totally relies on traditional forms of medicine, largely plant based to meet the primary health care needs of the people. Medicinal plants contain various chemical constituents which can be used as therapeutic agents. Secondary metabolites are organic compounds which are not involved in the survival of plants but they produce some products which aid them in their normal growth and development. The systematic study regarding presence of phytochemicals may aid in the analysis which helps pharmacological and property predication studies possible. The action mechanism of plants producing therapeutic effects can also be better investigated if the given information scrutinized. In the present study, ethanolic extracts were subjected to quantitative estimation of total flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids and phenolics. The analysis inferred the richness of these plants in terms of active phytoconstituents, flavonoids and terpenoids in particular. Some of the plants are shown to have major quantities of all the screened phytoconstituents. The extracts were also analyzed by LC-MS. The phytochemical identification was done on the basis of m/z ratio obtained for each individual secondary metabolite. The scrupulous numeral analysis of aldehydes and ketones present as secondary metabolite is done along with frequency of occurrence of particular aldehyde / ketone in other Nakshtra plants. The classified aldehydes and ketones are having medicinal importance of which representatives have been quoted. The given study would allow the systematic analysis of the phytochemicals regarding aldehydes and ketones or any other secondary metabolite for that matter and sheds light on identification and property predication which may help in formulating a drug and study its pharmacology.
Keywords: Nakshtra Plants, Phytochemicals, LC-MS; Aldehydes, Terpenoids and Alkaloids