Phytochemical Characterization of Rhizome, Fruit, Leaf and Callus of Rheum emodi Wall. using GC-MS

Background: Rheum emodi is an immensely useful medicinal herb of Himalaya having remarkable antidiabetic and anticancerous activities reported mainly from rhizomatous portion of the plant. The present study reports Gas Chromatographic- Mass spectroscopic characterization of both the conventionally used part i.e., the rhizome as well as other parts of R. emodi including callus to exploit the nonconventional parts for future use. Objective: To explore the bioactive constituents in the methanol extract of rhizome, fruit, leaf and callus of R. emodi. Methods: Phytochemical characterization of the plant extracts was performed by using GC-MS QP 2010 Plus. Various constituents were identified after matching their mass fragmentation pattern with data available in GC-MS library of National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) and Wiley Registry of Mass Spectral Data’s, New York (Wiley). Results: Total of 95 bioactive compounds were obtained in methanol extract of R. emodi out of which rhizome, fruit, leaf and callus revealed 31, 38, 27 and 47 compounds respectively. Two anthraquinones, chrysophanol (43.97%) and physcion (3.23%) were obtained from rhizome whereas fruit possessed only physcion (4.66%). Conclusion: The present findings characterizes and helps to supplement the chemical profile of the plant for its futuristic role in nutritional, pharmaceutical and therapeutic industries.