Title : Phytochemical diversity of the flora of the Western Ghats- An investigation through hyphenated mass spectrometric techniques
Abstract:
The plant kingdom represents an extraordinary reservoir of molecules, synthesized from the fascinating laboratory of plants, and Phytochemistry deals with the diversity of such compounds. The Western Ghats, one among the 36 global biodiversity hotspots, harbor nearly 7500 flowering plants, of which 1250 are endemic to the region. The present study reports the phytochemical diversity of selected plants of the Western Ghats through hyphenated mass spectrometry techniques GC-MS and LC-MS. The volatile chemicals of plants were generally analysed through GC-MS of essential oils or head space, while the non-volatile compounds were analysed through LC-MS of various solvent extracts. LC-MS studies of 13 Garcinia species revealed distribution of bioactive constituents such as biflavonoids, xanthones and acids, while GC-MS studies reported the genus as rich source of volatile terpenoids and aliphatic compounds. Distribution of piperamides, phenolics and terpenoids in the fruits and leaves of ten Piper species were studied by various LC-MS methods. Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) has been found as a rapid and reliable tool for demarcation of the medicinal herbs Piper nigrum, P. longum and P. chaba. Also the chemotaxonomic marker compounds were determined for Piper species based on leaf volatile chemical studies through GC-MS. Several new natural sources of aroma compounds such as camphor, safrol and linalool were discovered through the GC-MS studies of Cinnamomum species from the Western Ghats. The hepatotoxic phenyl propanoid coumarin in cinnamon samples (C. verum) were found within the tolerable daily intake limit by UHPLC-ESI-Qqq-LIT-MS method. HPLC-QTOF-MS studies on the distribution of phorbol esters in Euphorbia species revealed that the toxic phorbol ester TPA was absent, while the cytotoxic ester prostatin was present in the all the 13 Euphorbia species studied. The floral head space volatiles of around 100 species have also been investigated through HS GC-MS analyses. The presentation discusses the application of the chemical profiling in chemical ecology, atmospheric chemistry, integrated pest management, food quality and chemotaxonomy. More than 80% of the endemic flowering plants of the Western Ghats region are hitherto uninvestigated for their chemical constituents and the present study highlights the application of various hyphenated MS techniques in chemical profiling of the unexplored flora.
Audience Take Away Notes:
- Floristic diversity of the Western Ghats
- Phytochemical diversity
- Phytochemical techniques
- Hyphenated mass spectrometric techniques GC-MS and LC-MS
- Application aspects of Phytochemical profiling
