JNROnline Journal ISSN: 2320-3358 (e) ISSN: 0972-5547(p) Journal of Natural Remedies Vol. 21, No. 7(S2). 2020 11 DETERMINATION OF BIOACTIVE COPMOUNDS IN ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF CALLUS DERIVED FROM Mucuna pruriens USING GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY AND MASS SPECTROSCOPIC TECHNIQUE G. Priscilla Sweetlin 1 , Dr. Rachel Regi Daniel 2* 1 Assistant Professor, 2 Associate Professor 1,2 Department of Botany, Lady Doak College (Affiliated to Madurai Kamarajar University), Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India * Corresponding author ABSTRACT Phytochemicals are the chemicals extracted from plants. These organic chemicals are classified as primary or secondary constituents, depending on their role in plant metabolism. GC-MS method used for the analysis of the obtained extract can be an interesting tool for testing the amount of some active principles in herbs used in various industries. The aim of this study was to carry out for identification of bioactive compounds from ethanolic extract of callus derived from Mucuna pruriens by Gas chromatography and Mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). GCMS analysis of ethanolic extract was done by standard protocol using the equipment Perkin-Elmer Gas Chromatography– Mass Spectrometry, while the mass spectra of the compounds found in the extract was matched with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) library. The GCMS analysis of Mucuna pruriens callus showed the presence of 20 compounds. The prevailing compounds are 1,2- Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 3,7,11,15-Tetramethyl-2-hexadecen-1-ol, 2-hexadecen-1-ol, 3,7,11,15- tetram, Hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester, n-Hexadecanoic acid, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, 9,12- Octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)-, methyl ester, 9,12,15-Octadecatrienoic acid, methyl ester, Phytol, Octadecanoic acid, methyl ester, 9,12,15-Octadecatrienoic acid and Squalene which have wide range of biological activities. KEYWORDS: Gas chromatography and Mass spectroscopy, Mucuna pruriens callus, Phytochemistry 1. INTRODUCTION Phytochemistry or plant chemistry has developed in recent years as a distinct discipline, somewhere in between natural product organic chemistry and plant biochemistry and is closely related to both. It is concerned with the enormous variety of organic substances that are elaborated with and accumulated by plants and deals with the chemical structures of these substances, their biosynthesis, turn over and metabolism, their natural distribution and their biological function 1 . . Plants have been an important source of medicine with qualities for thousands of years. Plants are used medicinally in different countries, and they are the source of many potent and powerful drugs. Mainly on traditional remedies such as herbs for their history, they have been used as popular folk medicines 2 . It has been shown that in vitro screening methods could provide the needed preliminary observations necessary to elect crude plant extracts with potentially useful properties for further chemical and pharmacological investigations 3 . Phytochemicals are the chemicals extracted from plants. These organic chemicals are classified as primary or secondary constituents, depending on their role in plant metabolism. Primary constituents include the common sugars, aminoacids, proteins, purines and pyrimidines of nucleic acids, chlrophyll’s etc. Secondary constituents are the remaining plant chemicals such as alkaloids (derived from aminoacids), terpenes (a group of lipids) and phenolics (derived from carbohydrates) 4 . Plant produces these chemicals to protect itself but recent research demonstrates that emphasizes the plant source of most of these protective, disease-preventing compounds. A true nutritional role for phytochemicals is becoming more probable every day as research uncovers more of their remarkable benefits 5 . Within a decade, there were a number of dramatic advances in