ABSTRACT
Plants have been an important source of medicine with qualities of thousands of years. Ocimum
americanum L. belonging to family Lamiaceae is a medicinal and aromatic herb with white or pale
liliac flowers in six flowered whorls in 5-10 cm long racemes and having citrus smelled aroma. It is
distributed throughout India. The different parts including leaves are used for various medicinal
purposes as flavoring agent, diuretic and tonic, for cough, dysentery and relieving toothache. The
further studies are conducted to investigate the unexploited potential of Ocimum americanum. 13
compounds were identified and they are reported as dibutyl phthalate, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid,
butyl 2-methylpropyl ester, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, bis (2-methyl propyl ester, 1,2-benzene
dicarboxylic acid butyl 2-ethyl hexyl ester; 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid butyl 2-methyl propyl ester;
phthalic acid; butyl 2-pentyl ester; phthalic acid, butyl hept-4-yl ester, phthalic acid, butyl hex-3-yl
ester phthalic acid; Di(2-propyl pentyl) ester diisooctyl phthalate, Bis(2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate;
Squalene; Trans-geranylgeraniol. GCMS analysis and the biological activity of each compound were
discussed in present attempt. Because of its availability, it can prove as an effective and cheaper drug
for various human diseases.
References
[1] G. Kelly, Squalene and its potential clinical uses. Altern Med Rev 4(1) (1999) 29-36.
[2] R. Owen, R. Haubner, G. Würtele, W. Hull, B. Spiegelhalder and H. Bartsch, Olives
and olive oil in cancer prevention. European Journal of Cancer Prevention 13(4) (2004)319-326.
[3] U. Singh, A. Wadhwani, and B. Johri, Dictionary of Economic Plants in India. Indian
Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi (1983).
[4] Smith and J. Theresa, Squalene: potential chemopreventive agent. Expert Opinion on
Investigational Drugs 9(8) (2000) 1841-1848.
[5] S. Swamy and B. Tan, Cytotoxic and immunopotentiating effects of ethanolic extract of
Nigera sativa L. seeds. J. ethanopharm 70 (2000) 1-7.
Download all article in PDF
