Analysis of bioactive compounds from single herbal siddha distillate kadukkai theeneer through GC-MS

Abstract

The distillate formulations in siddha medicine called theeneer is the aqueous dosage form obtained by the effective distillation of herbal parts especially by using traditional apparatus. Terminalia chebula is an exquisite raw drug used in almost all type of siddha drug formulations. The herb is considered as a rejuvenator with its acclaimed antioxidant property. The usage of the drug is prevalent in many distillate preparations. To prepare the distillate from Terminalia chebula and to analyze the bio active compounds for determining its effectiveness as a rejuvenator and antioxidant supplement. The raw drug kadukkai (Terminalia chebula) was processed and distilled with reference to siddha texts and the distillate sample was analyzed through GC-MS. The prepared kadukkai theeneer was colorless with slight typical odor and taste.  A total of 12 compounds were spotted in the sample distillate belonging to class of fatty acid esters and volatile siloxanes. Few of the compounds  like hexadecanoic acid and pentadecanoic acid has reputed antioxidant property, other still unreported but  can be ascertained as they belong to the  same class of fatty acids. The study puts forward the possibility of using kadukkai theeneer as a rejuvenator supplement.