Phytochemical Investigation of Alysicarpus vaginalis by Gas Chromatography-mass Spectrometry and High-performance Thin-layer Chromatography

Abstract

Introduction: Alysicarpus vaginalis belongs to the Fabaceae family, commonly known as buffalo clover and one-leaf clover. Alysicarpus vaginalis is medicinally used in disease-related kidney, diuretics, leprosy, pulmonary problems, jaundice, skin problems, respiratory difficulties, and as a hepatoprotective. Alysicarpus vaginalis is a medicinally important plant according to our review of literature on pharmacological activities, modern pharmacological activities, ethnomedicinal surveys, and traditional systems. However, very limited research related to phytochemical investigation by chromatographic techniques was studied.  Methods: So, to investigate the phytochemicals of Alysicarpus vaginalis methanol extract by High-performance thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.  Result: Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of steroids, flavonoids, polyphenols, terpenoids, carbohydrates, alkaloids, and tannins. GC-MS revealed, the presence of six out of nine phytochemicals found medicinally important.  4-O-Methylmannose, Undecane, Neophytadiene, 2-amino-5-[(2-carboxy) vinyl]- Imidazole, Lup-20(29)-en-3-one and stigmasterol are some of the important phytochemical useful as anticancer or as anti-inflammatory. A solvent system was developed by thin-layer chromatography, followed by the HPTLC analysis using the mobile phase toluene: methanol: ethyl acetate (7:3:1). High-performance thin-layer chromatography fingerprinting detected total of 8 peaks with Rf   value of 0.007, 0.089, 0.142, 0.211, 0.468, 0.585, 0.772, and 0885 at 254nm and total of 9 peaks with Rf value of 0.007, 0.089, 0.140, 0.208, 0.468, 0.661, 0.772, 0887, and 0.940 at 366nm, respectively.  Conclusion: Chemoprofiling by sophisticated spectral techniques such as GC-MS and HPTLC fingerprinting can serve as an important tool for quality control of assuring purity, safety, quality, and efficacy of herbal formulation, and herbal extracts from Alysicarpus vaginalis.