Vol. 12, Issue 8 (2023)

Aegle marmelos (bael), a fruit with immense nutritional value had been a part of the Indian and traditional system of medicine for a very long time. The fruits possess rich medicinal benefits due to the presence of several phytochemicals, yet its usage is negligible and underexploited. The bioactives present in the fruits are extracted, isolated, identified and characterized in order to arrive at a clear understanding of the bioactivities. The current study takes into consideration the GC-MS technique for the identification, simultaneous quantification, and analysis of volatile compounds. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of six major compounds viz., Heraclenin, Imperatorin, Methoxsalen, Germacrene B, Alpha-Guaiene, and Caryophyllene. These compounds exhibit varied bioactivities such as anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and neuroprotective properties. Thus bioactives are important in nutraceutical and pharmacological industries but their bioavailability is a major limitation. Hence, future researches should primarily focus on developing novel techniques to enhance their bioavailability of bioactive compounds.