Evaluation of antioxidant potential and phytochemical characterization using GC-MS analysis of bioactive compounds of Achillea filipendulina (L.) leaves

Achillea filipendulina (L.) is an important medicinal herb of family Asteraceae was investigated with aim to the screening of bioactive compounds present in its leaves. The qualitative test reveals the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, glycosides, steroids, saponin and tannin. 31 bioactive compounds were identified from GC-MS analysis. Among the identified compounds, 13-Docosenamide, (Z) and 9-Octadecenamide was found to be the major compound. In vitro antioxidant scavenging activity was performed by DPPH assay and hydrogen peroxide assay showing the highest % inhibition of 92.98% and 82.02% as compared to standard respectively. Analysis of total phenolic and flavonoid content exhibited the presence of significant amount of phenolic content i.e. 261.77±0.54 mg/g and flavonoid 54.51±0.01 mg/g. Since the plant possess high content of phenols and flavonoids and also significantly high antioxidant scavenging activity it may have large number of pharmacological values. The results suggested the possible use of A. filipendulina for the development of highly potent, safe and novel antioxidant compounds.