Assessment of Embelin in Fruits of Embelia tsjeriam-cottam A. DC., A threatened medicinal Plant of Odisha, India

Embelin is the principal phytoconstituent of Embelia tsjeriam-cottam A. DC., commonly known as Baibidanga, belonging to the family Myrsinaceae. Embelin, obtained from E. tsjeriam-cottam (an alternative source to E. ribes),is having diverse biological activities and used as anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, antimicrobial, anticancer and antioxidant. Fruit-samples of E. tsjeriam-cottam were collected from five different geographical locations of Odisha. These fruits were extracted and assessed for embelin content through spectrophotometric and high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods utilizing different solvent systems. Significant variation in embelin content was observed among the samples. Embelin content in fruits of E. tsjeriam-cottam was ranged from 4.93 to 2.1% (dry wt.), when extracted with chloroform and 4.88 to 1.03% (dry wt.), when extracted with methanol. However, in case of HPLC analysis, embelin content in the selected fruits were varied from 2.72 to 1.32% (dry wt.), when extracted with chloroform and 1.75 to 0.5% (dry wt.), when extracted with methanol. In general, embelin content was found higher in the fruits collected from Chura Reserve Forest (AG3) followed by Sulia Reserve Forest (AG4), Bargarh (AG1), Ghana Reserve Forest (AG5) and Jajpur (AG2). Among the selected solvent systems, chloroform prevailed to be the excellent solvent for extraction of embelin.