Phytochemical screening and its relevance in Hemiphragma heterophyllum Wall., a medicinally important plant from Shimla hills

Hemiphragma heterophyllum Wall. a monotypic genus of family Scrophulariaceae is a perennial creeper in forests and shrubberies across the Himalaya. The main objective of the study was to correlate phytochemical constituents with medicinal importance of the plant. In the antioxidant assay, highly polar methanol extract of the whole plant showed strongest DPPH and NO scavenging activity with lowest IC₅₀ values i.e., 65.08 and 905.36 µg/ml respectively corroborating with its high content of polyphenols (66.81–86.53 mg GAE/g) and flavonoids (25.43–76.46 mg RE/g). GC-MS analysis of the aerial parts of plant substantiated the role of medicinally important compounds. Major phytochemicals like two methyl esters octadecadienoic acid and hexadecenoic acid, phthalate ester dibutyl phthalate, monoterpene oxide 2-boranone and steroid androstane derivative were identified in the fruit parts. While, two esters namely phthalic acid and oleic acid, two alkanes hexadecane and heptadecane 9-hexyl, one steroid ethyl iso-allocholate and one cardiac glycoside digitoxin were identified in the stem parts as important constituents. Such compounds also find their usage in the literature as therapeutics for being antioxidative, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, anti-cancerous and hypocholesterolemic, thus establishing the medicinal relevance of the plant Hemiphragma heterophyllum.