ABSTRACT
The members of genus Atalantia are widely used in Traditional, Folk and Ayurvedic systems of Medicine; of which three species are found in south India namely A. monophylla, A. racemosa, A. wightii. The fruits of these plants are picked and widely consumed by the tribal people. The present study aims to test the anti-oxidant potential of the methanol extracts of fruits and also to identify the bioactive compounds present in the extracts through GC/MS analysis. Among the three fruits tested for the antioxidant activity using the DPPH method, the crude methanolic extracts of A. monophylla shows higher potential. The IC50 value calculated was found to be 336.84 μg/ml for A. monophylla, 348.75 μg/ml for A. racemosa and 375.64 μg/ml for A. wightii. Ascorbic acid used as standard had an IC50 value of 103.03 μg/ml. Total antioxidant capacity was expressed as ascorbic acid equivalent and was calculated using the Phosphomolybdenum method. The methanol extract of A. monophylla, A. racemosa and A. wightii determined by phosphomolybdenum method exhibited significant antioxidant activity of 686mg/g, 592 mg/g and 655mg/g ascorbic acid equivalent respectively. Also the bioactive compounds in the Methanol extracts were evaluated using GC/MS.
ABSTRACT
The members of the genus Atalantia belonging to the family Rutaceae have many uses in traditional medicine. The aim of the present study was to investigate and compare the chemical composition of essential oils of three species of Atalantia namely Atalantia monophylla (Roxb.) DC., Atalantia racemosa Wight. and Atalantia wightii Tanaka. The extract percentage of the obtained essential oil was found to be 0.2, 0.17 and 0.31% in A. monophylla, A. racemosa and A. wightii respectively. The major compounds identified were a-Asarone (28.82%), Sabinene (13.19%), Eugenol methyl ether (12.71%), 1,2-Dimethoxy-4-(2-methoxyethenyl)benzene (11.63%) and b-Pinene (5.3%) in the essential oil of A. monophylla. In A. racemosa, T-Cadinol (11.08%), Caryophyllene oxide (9.78%), b-Caryophyllene (9.20%), Spathulenol (7.21%), b-Phellandrene (5.67%) and Decanal (4.01%) and in A. wightii b-Caryophyllene (16.37%), D-Limnonene (12.15%), Decanal (10.49%), b-Myrcene (7.67%), Tetradecanal (6.99%), Caryophyllene oxide (6.29%) and Hexadecylene oxide (5.87%) were the main constituents. Sesquiterpenes were the major class of compounds in A. racemosa and A. wightii, while in A. monophylla the essential oil was predominated by ether compounds. The results showed that GC/MS analysis of essential oils is a significant step in the bio-chemical profiling and bio-prospecting of Atalantia species.