EXTRACTION, ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BIOACTIVE COMPONENTS DERIVED FROM WHOLE PLANT OF EQUISETUM RAMOSISSIMUM DESF

Abstract

Natural products from medicinal plants, either as pure compounds or as standardized extracts, provide unlimited
opportunities for new drug leads because of the unmatched availability of chemical diversity. Due to an increasing
demand for chemical diversity in screening programs, seeking therapeutic drugs from natural products, β-sitosterol is a
phytosterol, widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom and known to be involved in the stabilization of cell
membranes. The aim of the present investigation was isolation and characterization of active components derived from
whole plant of Equisetum ramosissimum (E. ramosissimum). The plant was extracted with petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and
methanol solvent. The preliminary phytochemical results revealed that alkaloids, carbohydrates, flavonoids,
triterpenoids, steroids, tannin and phenolic compound as active constituents in ethyl acetate extract of E. ramosissimum.
The total phenolics content of whole plant of ethyl acetate extract was (213.00±0.721mg/gm), followed by flavonoids
(116.33±1.154mg/gm). Ethyl acetate as bioactive fraction based on sensitivity test was subjected to TLC and column
chromatography. The isolated compound was colourless powder, which was further subjected to IR, 1HNMR and MASS
for proper characterization and elucidation of the structure. After various spectral analysis and interpretation of same, the
isolated compound was identified as β-sitosterol. Furthermore, pharmacological studies required for the isolated
compounds.