Phytochemical investigation of medicinal plant, Selaginella bryopteris

Abstract

Selaginella bryopteris is a medicinal herb belongs to Selaginellaceae family and is considered as capable of ‘resurrecting life’. It is well recognized as Sanjeevni and conventionally used for the treatment of different ailments like kidney problems, treatment of Jaundice, treatment of ulcers, delivery of pregnant women, relief from heat stroke and the burning sensation during urination, cough and cold. The present work describes the phytochemical investigation of whole plant S. bryopteris and resulted in the isolation of six secondary metabolites (1-6) of different classes, including hydrocarbon (1), straight chain fatty alcohol (2), steroids (3), triterpenoid (4), and flavonoids (6). All compounds were characterised by NMR (1HNMR, 13C NMR).