Search

Untargeted profiling of phytochemicals from plant extracts would aid in the exploration of various groups of compounds and assist in the identification of new bioactive compounds, reducing the redundancy in compound identification. The potential bioactive phytochemicals present in Myristica dactyloides, an endemic ethnomedicinal plant widely used in traditional treatment practices, were explored and cataloged in this study. The untargeted phytochemical profile of active methanolic leaves and bark extracts was assessed by Ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and quadrupole time-offlight mass spectrometry. Preliminary screening results highlighted the high efficiency of methanolic extract as an effective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, along with a remarkable amount of total phenolics and flavonoid content. Thus, the methanolic extracts of leaves and bark samples were further subjected to catalog its chemical constituents through untargeted metabolite profiling. Analysis of high-resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer spectra, exhibited 3,813 and 1,797 molecular features in the ESI+ mode with clean retention time-exact mass, resulted in identifying 35 major therapeutically important common compounds for the first time in both leaves and bark extracts of M. dactyloides, fitting to major groups like lignans, neolignans, phenylpropanoids, diarylnonanoid, flavonoids, and others. Our results prove the presence of Myoinositol, Malabaricone B, Malabaricone C, Malabaricone D, and 1-(2,6-dihydroxyphenyl)- 9-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl) nonan-1-one previously reported from M. dactyloides, along with promising chemical signatures like Monotropein, Austrobailignan 7, Fragransol B, Guaiacin, Myricanone, Nectandrin A, Argenteane, and Epicatechin to the phytochemical catalog of M. dactyloides. Furthermore, our research not only confirms the existence of previously known molecules and adds new phytochemicals, but it also sheds light on the wide application of M. dactyloides for possible bio-prospecting for a new chemical entity.