Terminalia Tomentosa Roxb (ex DC) Wight & Arn: Phytochemical Investigatio

Goa College of Pharmacy

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to carry out phytochemical investigation of the ethanolic extract of the stem bark of Terminalia tomentosa Roxb (ex DC) Wight & Arnbelonging to the family Combreteaceae. The plant is known in Sanskrit as Asana, in English as Black murdah, in Hindi as Asan, Saj, Sain and in Marathi as Ain.The plant has been known to possess various pharmacological activities like antifungal, antioxidant, antihyperglycaemic, antidiarrhoeal, antileucorrheal etc. The bark of the plant is astringent& useful in ulcers, vata, fractures, haemorrhages, bronchitis, diarrhoea etc.Preliminary phytochemical screening of the ethanolic extract of stem bark revealed the presence of carbohydrates, flavonoids, triterpenoids,steroids, tannins and saponins. The chemical entities isolated and characterised includes 4 – methy l – 4 – hydroxymethylene – 6β – (10 – methyl octanyl) cyclohexane (Arjuna homoses quiterpenol), di-n-octyl phthalate, di isobutyl phthalate and dibutyl phthalate. All these phytoconstituents are reported for the first time from the ethanolic extract of stem bark of T.tomentosa.

Mass spectra was obtained by ESI ionization using the Advion expression Compact Mass Spectrometer (CMS).

Mass spectrometry guided purification for efficient isolation of natural products at semi- and preparative scale

In natural product research the isolation of compounds from crude extracts is a key element. An increase in the efficiency of the purification process, by improvement of instrumental and methodological approaches, remains a crucial point. In this respect, modern flash chromatography, has evolved and uses 15 μm spherical particles for efficient separation at moderate pressures. Flash C-18 was tested for the rapid isolation of various plant secondary metabolites of interest.