Determination of the Major Component of Water Fraction of Katuk (Sauropus androgynous (L.) Merr.) Leaves by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Background: The katuk leaf (Sauropus androgynous (L.) Merr.) is one of the plants that are used to overcome baldness by the people of Kampung Mak Kemas, Malaysia. It is suspected that secondary metabolites contained in katuk leaves play a key role in stimulating hair growth.

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the optimum method to obtain one of the chemical compounds in the water fraction and to identify the hypothesized chemical isolates in the water fraction katuk leave's ethanol extract.

Materials and Methods: The methods used in this study included the collection and determination of the katuk plant, the processing of the katuk, phytochemical filtrating, extracting with ethanol 96%, and fractionation using the liquid-liquid extraction method with n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and water solvents The water fraction of katuk leaves was analyzed by its components by thin-layer chromatography using the stationary phase of silica gel 60 F254, developer of n-butanol:acetic acid:water (4:1:5), and detection under ultraviolet (UV) light at a wavelength of 366 and 254nm, as well as with vanillin-sulfuric acid reagent. To isolate the compounds from water fraction of katuk leaves, it was then eluted with a vacuum column chromatography by eluent with a level polarity that would get 11 subfractions. Each subfraction was checked by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography to see subfraction purity characterized by the appearance of a spot on the chromatogram plate. The isolate was analyzed using spot test, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, infrared spectrophotometer, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Results: The isolate was an alkaloid compound with a molecular mass of 406.3131 m/z with the molecular formula C21H39N6O2 as S, S-5, 5'-amino-4,4'-dihexyl-propyldihydropyrazol-3, 3-one.

Conclusion: One of the chemical compounds contained in the water fraction of the ethanol extract of the katuk leaf was an alkaloid group.