Phytochemical profiling, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of Kumaun Himalayan Artemisia nilagirica (C.B. Clark) Pamp.

The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the phytochemical characterisation, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of methanol extracts of leaf parts of A. nilagirica. The Phytochemical characterisation by GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of 30 phytoconstituents such as Methyl commate A (14.69%), Phytol (13.91%), 8,9-Dihydro-9- vinyl-cycloisolongifoline (7.86%), Neophytadine (6.18%), Alpha- Amyrin (5.52%) and Squalene (4.99%), 9-Acetyl-S-octahydrophenanthrene (4.62%), Olean-12-en-3-one (3.70%), Acetyloxyparthenin (3.60%) as the main components. For antioxidant activity, the leaf extract demonstrates IC50 value 8.80 ± 0.03 µg/ml using DPPH, 30.21 ± 0.1 µg/ml using MCA, and 7.62 ± 0.01 µg/ml using FRAP scavenging assay respectively. The anti-bacterial potential of methanol extract against the 2 Gram-negative and 2 Gram-positive pathogenic bacterial strains show that extract has significant inhibition potential with mean inhibition zone in the range of 16 to 20 mm with MIC values 31.25 to 125 µg/ml. For quantitative phytochemical analysis, the highest Total Phenolic Content (TPC), 372.3 mg GAE/g, Total Flavonoid Content (TFC-1), 287.35 mg QE/g and Total Flavonol Content (TFC-2), 138.43 mg QE/g of dry extract were found for methanol extract respectively.