Phytochemical Identification from Eleusine indica Methanolic Extract through High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry Databases-driven Analysis

Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn is a perennial herb belonging to the grass family, Poaceae. The plant, which is locally known as ‘rumput sambau”, is the only species of Eleusine found abundantly in Malaysia. It has been traditionally used to treat various ailments including pain relief from fever, vaginal bleeding, hastening the placenta delivery after childbirth, urinary infection and as a tonic for flu-related symptoms. A diverse array of biological activities have been reported for the plant, such as antipyretic, analgesic, anticonvulsant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective actions. Despite many reports on the traditional uses and biological activities of E. indica, only a few phytochemicals have been isolated, thus limiting the plant’s available chemical databases. This study aimed to identify the phytochemical constituents in the methanolic extract of E. indica through liquid chromatography high-performance tandem mass spectrometry databases-driven analysis technique using MZmine, GNPS, Compound Discoverer and SIRIUS platforms. This technique managed to identify a total of 65 phytochemicals in the extract, comprising primary and secondary metabolites and was verified by the isolation of one of its identified phytochemicals. The structural elucidation mainly using 1D and 2D NMR as well as comparison with the literature values confirms the isolated phytochemical to be a C-3 anomer of a known compound loliolide, which consequently increases the level of confidence in the applied technique. The research describes a useful technique for the fast and simultaneous identification of phytochemicals in E. indica, contributing to the chemical properties study of the genus and family ([Fig. 1]).

Fig. 1 Phytochemical identification workflow for Eleusine indica methanolic extract

Publication History

Article published online:
16 November 2023