Abstract The present investigation was carried out to identify the bioactive compounds present in the n-hexane leaf extract of Diplazium sammatii by using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS).Fresh and matured leaves were collected from a healthy plant, rinsed, air dried and pulverized. 2 gram of the powdered sample was weighed into 250 ml conical flask and 10 ml of n-hexane was added to sonicate for two hours. It was then filtered by packing a column with silica gel and fibre glass wool. Anhydrous sodium sulphate was added to remove the water present in the extract. The extract was then concentrated with nitrogen concentrator to 2 ml for GC-MS analysis which was done using Agilent technologies Model 7890A coupled with a mass spectrometer Agilent technologies 6975. The library used for the identification of compounds was National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-version Year 2014. GC-MS analysis of n-hexane leaf extract of Diplazium sammatii showed the presence of twenty three different bioactive compounds with varying quantities. The main compounds were Benzene, (2-nitroethyl)- (RT: 6.092; 3.94 %), n-Hexadecanoic acid (RT: 14.063; 19.64 %), Oleic Acid (RT: 15.887; 47.25 %), Octadecanoic acid (RT: 16.006; 5.87 %) and Methyl triacontylether (RT: 23.139; 6.51 %).These chemical compounds are considered biologically and pharmacologically important. Thus, they provide inspiration for further investigation in the discovery of novel herbal drugs.
Keywords Diplazium sammatii, GC-MS, pharmacological importance, bioactive compounds, herbal drugs.