Vol. 6, Issue 11 (2017)

Author(s):
Sunita Arora and Ganesh Kumar

Abstract:
Cenchrus setigerus Vahl belongs to Poaceae family, an important fodder plant which is traditionally used as famine food during drought. The objective of this study was to characterize the chemical constituents in different crude extracts of the root, stem and leaves of Cenchrus setigerus by using modern sensitive gas chromatography–mass spectrometry technique. GC–MS analyses showed that majority of these identified compounds in various crude extracts contain normal hydrocarbons, fatty acid, fatty acid esters, terpeniods, phytosterols, alkaloids and glycosides. The high percentage of compounds that were identified in the crude extracts shows chemical and biological importance are Hexadecanoic acid, 1 -(hydroxymethyl)-1,2-ethanediyl ester, p-Tert butylcalix arene, Stigmasta-5, 22-dien-3-ol, 2-Amino-9-(3,4-dihydroxy-5-hydroxymethyl-tetrahydro-furan-2-yl)-3,9-dihydro-purin-6-one, Hexadecanoic acid, Pentadecanoic acid, Octadecanoic acid, i-Propyl 9,12,15-octadecatrienoate, Eicosane Tetracontane and Vitamin E. Plant secondary metabolites are commercially important and are used by pharmaceutical industry as well as the traditional practitioners. Therefore the identified good numbers of chemical compounds from various extracts of Cenchrus setigerus show antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and anti-HIV activity. Hence the present study focused on bioactive phytoconstitutes of Cenchrus setigerus Vahl justifying the use of this plant to treat various ailments.