Phytochemical Screening and Spectral Characterization of <i>Portieria hornemannii</i> from South East Coast of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Seaweeds are macrothallus with numerous industrial and pharmaceutical applications. Recently researchers are gaining more interest in nutraceutical applications of seaweeds. Hence the present work focused on the nutraceutical importance, phytochemical importance and spectral characterisation of red seaweed Portieria hornemannii. Preliminary screening shows the presence of proteins, tannins, terpenoids, flavoniods, phenols, coumarins, quinones etc. The spectral characterization UV showed the peaks at 205 and 220 nm in 4.0 and 3.379 absorbence and FTIR shows the presence of functional groups such amine, amide, alkene etc., and from the GC-MS analysis the major active compounds was determined such as, n-hexadecanoic acid, oleic acid, neophytadiene, octadecanoic acid. The bioactive compounds present revealed its antibacterial activity of the ethanolic extract against the human pathogens such as Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli (5.2 ± 2.7 mm) Staphylococcus aureus (8.8 ± 7.3 mm) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (3.7 ± 2.0 mm). The Portieria hornemannii red seaweed pave way to discover new drugs and food supplements and could be a novel source for nutraceuticals.