Assessment of camel thorn (Alhagi maurorum) as new sources of bioactive compounds using GC-MS technique

Abstract

Alhagi maurorum (A. maurorum) is one of the medicinally important plants belonging to the family leguminasae, commonly known as camel thorn. This research was amid to identify the chemical compounds in the aerial part of A. maurorum using GC-mass analysis. Three solvents with different polarities were used for the extraction of chemical constituents (water, methanol and petroleum ether). The results of GC-MS analysis led to identification of various compounds. In total, thirty-nine compounds from petroleum ether extract, thirty-two compounds in methanolic extract and seventeen compounds in aqueous extract were identified. Majority of the identified compounds have been reported to possess many biological activities. Among them, we reported 10 new anticancer compounds (Vitamin E; Hexadecanoic acid; Stigmast-5-en-3-ol; Phytol,2-hexadecen-1-ol,3,7,11,15-tetramethyl; Squalene; Hexadecanoic acid; 2-hydroxy-1-(hydroxymethyl) ethyl ester; Oxime,methoxy-phenyl,methyl N-hydroxyben-zenecarboximidoate; Ergost-5-en-3-ol; 9,12- Octadecad-ienoic acid and Farnesol) from A. maurorum using three solvent, while the best effective solvent was petroluem ether. Therefore, we report that A. maurorum has great potential to be developed into anticancer drugs.