Dr. Rahul Shivaji Adnaik

Medicinal plants have been well documented for their therapeutic and nutritional significance, and among them, Moringa oleifera Lam., also referred to as the "Miracle Tree," possesses high value due to its multifaceted pharmacological activities and profuse phytochemical makeup. Identification and characterization of bioactive molecules in the petroleum ether extract from the leaves of M. oleifera were conducted in the present work utilizing Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and the potential pharmacological significance was appraised. Fresh M. oleifera leaves were procured from Chaksu, Rajasthan, authenticated, shade-dried, and pulverized, after which petroleum ether extraction was carried out through maceration. The resulting extract was subjected to GC-MS analysis and the constituents were detected by matching the retention times and mass spectra with the NIST library database. GC-MS profiling indicated a number of bioactive molecules such as stearic acid esters derivatives, carvacrol, heterocycles with boron, and bisphenol A, which possessed pharmacological activities such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, hypocholesterolemic, anticancer, and cardioprotective activities. Detection of bisphenol A stands out in view of possible environmental degradation and points up the requirement for strict quality assurance in medicinal plant research. In totality, the result verifies the fact that M. oleifera leaves are a superior storehouse of bioactive molecules with possible medicinal usage; whereas molecules such as carvacrol and stearic acid esters justify the folk usage of the plant, the detection of the toxin bisphenol A points up the importance of stringent phytochemical and safety analysis.