Antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of Canavalia gladiata (Jacq.) DC. leaves and seeds: GC-MS based metabolic profiling

Abstract

Canavalia gladiata (Sword Bean; family Fabaceae) is a fast-growing climber crop that has been widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas for its edible seeds and legumes. It has also been used as grain legume and medicinal plant in China for thousands of years. The metabolites from leaves and seeds of C. gladiata were extracted in petroleum ether and chloroform. Further, extracts were subjected to GC-MS analysis for metabolite profiling. Total of 31 phytoconstituents were identified; 14 compounds were reported to have biological activities. The Tridecane reported from leaves and seeds petroleum ether extract showed 10.67 and 2.72% of relative quantity of compound respectively and has antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. Octasiloxane,1,1,3,3,5,5,7,7,9,9,11,11,11,15,15-hexadecamethyl (3.42%) found in petroleum ether leaves extracts showed antimicrobial activity. Moreover, 1- Hexadecane constituted 10.23% in seeds and 3.71% relative quantity in leaves extracted with chloroform showed antibacterial activity. The seeds and leaves extracted with chloroform reported 1-Tetradecene in 6.59 and 6.03% relative quantity respectively has antifungal potential. While Phenol 2, 4-bis [1, 1-dimethylethyl] reported in leaves (6.12%) and seeds (6.47%) chloroform extract act as antioxidant and antimicrobial agents. The 1-Nonadecene in seeds (3.47%) and leaves (2.14%) chloroform extracts showed antifungal activity while 1-Docosene in seeds (2.98%) and leaves (1.71%) of chloroform extract showed antimicrobial potential. Nonadecane constituted 3.06% in seeds and 2.78% in leaves chloroform extracts and has antioxidant potential. The present study revealed that the leaves and seeds of C. gladiata are a good source of antioxidants and other biologically active ingredients. However, petroleum ether and chloroform extracted different metabolites from seeds and leaves. Therefore, these findings highlighted the importance of solvent in phytochemical extractions and further bioactivity of C. gladiata metabolites creates an attention of researchers for their use in the field of paramedical industries and herbal medicine.