Phytochemical Profiling and GC-MS Analysis of Conocarpus lancifolius Fruits

Background and Objective: Plants are repositories of several natural chemicals; the identification of which are important in the field of medicine, cosmetics, health and other industries. Conocarpus lancifoliusEngl.(Family-Combretaceae) is an evergreen tree cultivated as an ornamental plant species. Since no comprehensive phytochemical analysis of its fruits was available, an attempt was made to evaluate the phytochemical composition and phyto-constituents present in its methanolic fruit extract. Materials and Methods: Both dry (mature) and green (immature) fruits (Dfr and Gfr, respectively) were collected from Udaipur city, Rajasthan, India. The aqueous and methanolic extracts underwent preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening, while the methanolic extract was subjected to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis for the first time. Results: The preliminary screening revealed the presence of carbohydrates, flavonoids, phenols, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, coumarins, tannins, steroids, and phlobatannins, and the absence of amino acids and saponins. The GC-MS analysis demonstrated the presence of 80 and 65 biological compounds in Dfr and Gfr, respectively. The major compounds identified in Dfr and Gfr were, 1,2,3-benzenetriol (13.19, 26.13%), n-hexadecanoic acid (15.92, 11.12%), β-sitosterol (10.84, 9.57%), 10(E),12(Z)-Conjugated linoleic acid (9.51, 2.66%) and Lupeol (5.09, 5.57%), respectively. Conclusion: The preliminary phytochemical analysis and GC-MS profiling of C. lancifolius fruits from India have shown the presence of biologically significant phytochemicals for the first time and could stimulate future research to evaluate its complete pharmacological potential.