40 Journal of Scientific and Innovative Research 2020; 9(2): 40-47 Available online at: www.jsirjournal.com Research Article ISSN 2320-4818 JSIR 2020; 9(2): 40-47 © 2020, All rights reserved Received: 27-04-2020 Accepted: 22-06-2020 Gabriel O Ajayi Phytomedicine, Drug Discovery and Toxicology Research Laboratory Department of Medical Biochemistry Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences Lagos State University College of Medicine PMB 21266, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria Temitope J Olorunrinu Phytomedicine, Drug Discovery and Toxicology Research Laboratory Department of Medical Biochemistry Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences Lagos State University College of Medicine PMB 21266, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria Muhin A Shittu Phytomedicine, Drug Discovery and Toxicology Research Laboratory Department of Medical Biochemistry Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences Lagos State University College of Medicine PMB 21266, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria Correspondence: Gabriel O Ajayi Phytomedicine, Drug Discovery and Toxicology Research Laboratory Department of Medical Biochemistry Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences Lagos State University College of Medicine PMB 21266, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria Email: gabriel.ajayi@lasucom.edu.ng Elucidation of bioactive compounds in hydroalcohol extract of Phyllanthus amarus Schum. and Thonn. leaf using GC-MS analysis Gabriel O Ajayi*, Temitope J Olorunrinu, Muhin A Shittu Abstract Phyllanthus amarus is one of the most important medicinal plant in tropical and subtropical nations which are used for stomach, liver, kidney and spleen diseases treatment. This work involves the elucidation of the phytochemical constituents in 70% ethanolic leaf extract of P. amarus. Phytochemical screening, quantitative and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses were carried out on the extract. The qualitative and quantitative analyses showed the presence of the following phytochemicals and their contents in mg/100g of extract as phenolic (34.31 ± 0.07), tannin (21.15 ± 0.16), phlobatanin (26.36 ± 0.19), terpernoid (14.71 ± 0.14), steroid (20.37 ± 0.13), cardiac glycoside (20.15 ± 0.19) and alkaloid (23.90±0.05), and absence of flavonoids and saponins. 9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid, ethyl ester (Z,Z,Z)- (22.47%), Benzenamine, N-[2-(3,4- dimethoxyphenyl)ethyl]-2-nitro- (12.68%), hexadecanoic acid, ethyl ester (12.63%), Beta Tocopherol (12.63%) and phytol (12.61%) were revealed by GC-MS as the major bioactive constituents. The results of this study validated the rich bioactive constituents in P. amarus which may be the reason the plant is being used for the treatment of various ailments. Keywords: Phyllanthus amarus, Bioactive compounds, Gas chromatography, Mass spectrometry. INTRODUCTION Phyllanthus amarus is a branching annual glabrous herb which belong to a large plant family of Euphorbiaceae. The Phyllanthus genus consists of about 1000 species, spread over the tropical and subtropical regions of the world like Africa, America, Asia and Australia [1-2]. P. amarus is slender and 30 - 60 cm high, bearing leaf-branchlets and distichous leaves with subsessile, elliptic-oblong, obtuse, rounded base [3]. It is commonly called Gale of wind, Hurricane weed, Stone breaker, carry me seed, Shatterstone or Gulf leaf flower [2] however, in Yoruba, Southwest Nigeria, it is known as eyin olobe or dobisowo while the Asaba people in South south Nigeria called it buchi oro [4]. Medicinal plants have been used for the treatment of diseases for as long as man came into existence and P. amarus, as a result of its richness in medicinal values, has been in use since ancient time. It plays important roles in green medicine as a result of its safety and dependability than the costly synthetic drugs [2]. It has been reported in folk medicine that the plant is useful in the treatment of jaundice, urinogenital disorders, wounds, scabies, dropsy, intermittent fevers as well as diabetes, gonorrhea, pain, inflammation, chronic dysentery, appendix, kidney problems and urinary bladder disturbances [5-7]. Several pharmacological activities of P. amarus have been reported. The methanolic extract was reported to have antioxidant properties by in vitro inhibition of lipid peroxidation and scavenging of superoxide and hydroxyl radicals [8]. Some of the isolated phenolics from the plant like phyllanthusiin D, amariin and repansunic acid have shown higher degree of antioxidant activity among the ellagitannins which were comparable to the rutin, flavonoids and quercetin 3-O-glucoside [9]. It has also been reported to have antidiabetic [10], antimicrobial [11], anticancer [12], antiviral [13] and anti-inflammatory [14] activities. Anti-inflammatory property of extracts from the plant was showed to have iNOS and COX-2 expression reduced and NF-κB activation inhibited but did not affect AP-1. In human whole blood, the extracts were also found to inhibit interferon-γ, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-10 induction and reduce TNF-α production [14].