Characterization of natural products from the peel of Lagenaria siceraria fruit using chromatographic techniques

Abstract

Herbal products, which comprise a wide variety of bioactive molecules, have been used as remedies for different diseases throughout history. Lagenaria siceraria, a fruit vegetable, is employed in folk medicine as a treatment for various disorders including diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and heart and liver ailments. In the present work, a number of compounds were isolated and characterized from the ethyl acetate fraction of the methanolic extract of its peel, including β-sitosterol, vanillin, quercetin, rutin, 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole, stearic acid, 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)phenol, 2,2′-methylenebis[6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methylphenol], 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid mono(2-ethylhexyl) ester, hexadecanoic acid and its methyl ester, (Z,Z)-9,12-ocatdecadienoic acid and its ester, and (Z,Z,Z)-9,12,15-ocatdecatrienoic acid methyl ester. Separation of the phytochemicals was done using column and thin-layer chromatography, while gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC–MS), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were employed for their identification. These compounds are being reported for the first time from the peel of the fruit of L. siceraria. The results provide a possible chemical rationale for the medicinal applications of this fruit.