Phytochemicals and GC-MS analysis of fatty acids in leaves of <i>Acmella caulirhiza</i> traditional medicinal plant, evaluating efficiencies of extracting solvents and methods

Several medicinal plants have been used in traditional medication for several thousand years till today in different parts of the world. In Ethiopia, large majority of the population depends on traditional medicine originating from medicinal plants. However, there are few phytochemical analyses done for most of the medicinal plants. The aim of this project was to screen and investigate phytochemicals in the leaves of <i>Acmella caulirhiza</i> medicinal plant, and to evaluate extracting efficiencies of four solvents- methanol, ethanol, acetone, and petroleum ether. The maceration and Soxhlet techniques for extraction yielded maximum percentages of 8.2% and 13.2% in methanol solvent, respectively. Among the four extracting solvents used, methanol was found to be the most efficient solvent for different phytochemicals of the leaves. Using soxhlet technique and methanol as extracting solvent, the total phenol content obtained was 22.10 ± 2.05 mg g⁻¹ whereas the total flavonoid content was 9.71 ± 1.45 mg g⁻¹ of the extract. ANOVA results showed that there is a significant difference among the mean concentrations of phenol or flavonoid contents which could be from difference in solvent polarity. More than 10 fatty acids have been identified by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Among the identified fatty acids, hexadecenoic acid was the highest (38.5%), followed by linoleic acid (34.21%). <i>Acmella caulirhiza</i> has long been used as an alternative medicine to treat a wide range of illnesses since it contains various phytochemical components. Further studies should be conducted to isolate specific phytochemical compounds and examine their biological effects.