Phytochemical screening of plant extracts and GC-MS analysis of the n-hexane extracts of stems and roots of Jatropha curcas growing in Bangladesh

Phytochemical screening and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods were used to determine the phytochemical components of various extracts of stems and roots of Jatropha curcas. Preliminary phytochemical screening of n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of stems and roots of Jatropha curcas were carried out to identify the class of compounds present in each extract. The results showed that steroids, terpenoids, flavonoids and phenolic compounds were found in every extract of stems and roots. Alkaloids were also present in every extract except n-hexane. But carbohydrates were only present in methanol extract of stems and roots. The GC-MS analysis of the n-hexane extract of the stems and roots of Jatropha curcas were done which allowed the identification and quantification of 22 and 26 n-hexane soluble compounds present in the stems and roots respectively. In this experiment, Dotriacontane (17.22%) and Lycopene (12.46%) were identified as major components in the n-hexane extracts of stems and roots, respectively.