GC-MS analysis of phytocomponents in resin of Araucaria Columnaris (Cook Pine) and its medicinal uses.

ABSTRACT

Plants produce a diverse range of bioactive compounds making them rich source of different types of medicines. The plants are mostly cultivated for decoration and to enhance the appearance of houses, gardens, road sides, and also for commercial purposes such as floral decorations in form of bouquet. They are also source of fragrant oils for perfume making and cosmetic. However only very few of these plant species have found to be used in medicine and little or no literature exit on their chemical and biological activities. Araucaria columnaris is an ornamental plant, commonly known as Christmas tree, belonging to the family Araucariaceae. Plant resin was used for the present study, antibacterial activity and GC-MS analysis of Araucaria columnaris resin was carried out. The resin was subjected to solvent extraction using decreasing polarity solvents (aqueous, methanol, ethyl acetate and benzene). TLC profiling of all the extracts gives an idea about the presence of various phytochemicals and its fractions were checked for antibacterial activity against major clinical pathogens. It was found that fraction 4 (F4) of methanolic extact showed maximum zone of inhibition against Gram positive organisms. This fraction was subjected to GC-MS analysis; the result revealed the presence of a board range of many medicinal compounds and antioxidant activity of resin of Araucaria columnaris were identified.