Comprehensive analysis of metabolites in Pleurolobus gangeticus using the two-dimensional gas-chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Pleurolobus gangeticus , also known as 'Salparni', is a valuable herb with significant medicinal properties. Previous studies on the plant have only used conventional GC-MS to analyse its metabolites. In this study, we utilised two-dimensional gas chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry to precisely characterise the shoot and root volatiles of Pleurolobus gangeticus . The ethyl acetate extract of both tissues revealed 50 prominent volatile phytoconstituents in each, accounting for 99.9% and 100.1% of the total volatiles, respectively. The most abundant chemicals found in the root were alcohols (19%) and fatty acids (17%), while the shoot primarily contained organic compounds (24%) and esters (20%). The major phytoconstituents in the root were hexadecanoic acid, 2-hydroxy-1ethyl ester (16.1%), octadecanoic acid, and 2,3-dihydroxypropyl ester (10.5%). Conversely, the shoot was dominated by n-hexadecanoic acid (9.1%), linoleic acid (7.4%), and neophytadiene (5.6%). These findings highlight the potential of Pleurolobus gangeticus for further research and development in medicinal applications.