Chemical constituents analysis of Alpinia galanga and Alpinia calcarata

Abstract

Introduction<italic>Alpinia galanga</italic> and <italic>Alpinia calcarata</italic> are two important medicinal plants having diverse therapeutic value. The objective of the present work was to analyze different bioactive constituents present in the methanolic leaf and rhizome extracts of <italic>A. galanga</italic> and <italic>A. calcarata</italic>MethodsGas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis was carried out for determining the phytoconstituents present in both the plants. Total Phenolic Content (TPC) and Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) of these extracts were also determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminium chloride colorimetric method.ResultsThe major phytochemical constituents found in leaf extracts of <italic>A. galanga</italic> were benzenepropanal (37.35±0.5%) and 3-phenyl-2-butanone (20.49±0.6%) whereas, rhizome extract contain carotol (17.44±0.3%), Eucalyptol (13.89±0.2%), 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (11.28±0.3%) as major constituents. Similarly, major constituents of leaf extract in <italic>A. calcarata</italic> were olealdehyde (32.41±0.95%), hexadecanal (31.84±0.34%), phytol (11±0.52%), 9-hexadecenal (10.06±0.12%) whereas hydroquinone (44.17±0.36%) and pyranone (6.19±0.35%) were found to be maximum in rhizome extract. TPC and TFC of leaf extract of <italic>A. galanga</italic> was found to be highest (77.25±1.56mg GAE/g of the extract and 64.69±1.12 mg Quercetin equivalent/ g of extract respectively) in comparison with <italic>A. calcarata</italic> extracts.<italic>A. galanga</italic> and <italic>A. calcarata</italic> have furnished an array of phytoconstituents which could be responsible for a wide range of bioactivities. These findings could give new direction towards future pharmacological investigations.