Abstract:

Long chain saturated hydrocarbons were isolated from petroleum ether extract of Momordica tuberosa (Roxb) Cogn. (Cucurbitaceae) fruits. The petroleum ether extract was subjected to silica gel (mesh size 60-120) column chromatography using petroleum ether (100%) as mobile phase. The isolated hydrocarbons fraction was characterized by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GCMS), along with IR and NMR spectroscopic techniques. Major compounds present in hydrocarbon fraction were hexadecane (C H ) at a retention time (RT) of 9.3 m, octadecane (C H ) at RT of 11.5 m, eicosane (C H ) at RT of 14.3 m, docosane 16 34 18 38 20 42 (C H ) at RT of 16.7 min and nonacosane (C H ) at RT of 22.7 m. The newly reported saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons from the Momordica tuberosa 22 46 29 60 (Cucurbitaceae) fruit, may serve as marker constituent for further characterization and standardization of crude drug and marketed formulations.

Keywords: Momordica tuberosa, Cucurbitaceae, Long chain hydrocarbons, GCMS