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Session 3: Preclinical studies of herbal and traditional medicine

Phytochemical Profiling of Centotheca lappacea (L.) Desv. Aerial

Part

Supattra Rungsimakan

Office of International Cooperation, Department of Thai Traditional & Complementary Medicine,
Ministry of Public Health, Tiwanon Road, Nonthaburi 11000, Thailand
Corresponding author: rsupattra@outlook.com

Background and Rationale: Barbed grass or Centotheca lappacea (L.) Desv. is a Thai
indigenous herbal medicine that is used in the treatment of a post-partum period by topical
and oral administrations. Previous phytochemical study on C. lappacea (L.) Desv. showed no
report of chemical compounds from this plant. Therefore, the investigation of a phytochemical
variant which might be expected to be responsible for its traditional use could be revealed and
be preceded to a more detailed in biological activities.
Objectives: To study the chemical constituents of C. lappacea (L.) Desv. aerial part.
Methods: Three techniques, GC/MS, Column Chromatography and X-Ray Fluorescence
(XRF) were used to identify the phytochemical profiling of the aerial part of this grass. The
determination of total phenolic and the total flavonoid contents using spectrophotometric
methods were also investigated.
Results: The present study showed that C. lappacea (L.) Desv. aerial part consists of a
wide range of compounds, i.e. phenolic compounds, fatty acids, triterpenes and phytosterols
which the major isolated compounds from Column Chromatography are 4-coumaric acid and
5,7,4'-trimethoxyflavone. The grass smoke and its residue contain compounds, such as syringols,
guaiacols, other substituted phenols and fatty acids. Silica was remarkably found in the crude
drug sample and the boiling-water extract with concentration of 6.15% and 3.78% dry weight,
respectively. The mineral, particularly silicon, was also detected in the crude drug sample and
the boiling-water extract with concentration of 2.89% and 1.77% dry weight, respectively.
Furthermore, the highest value of total phenolic content was 1770.6 μg gallic acid equivalents
(μg GAE/g dry weight) in the boiling-water extract and the highest value of flavonoid content
was 618.3 μg quercetin equivalents (μg QE/g dry weight) in the ethanol extract. No alkaloids
were detected in any extracts by TLC-phytochemical screening.
Conclusion: Various extracts from the aerial part of C. lappacea (L.) Desv. were investi-
gated for their chemical compounds. The phenolic compounds, silica and silicon content that
are found in this plant may play an important role in its traditional use in a post-partum
rejuvenating treatment.
Key words: Centotheca lappacea, Poaceae, barbed grass, phenolic, flavonoid