Chemical Compound Analysis of the Methanol Extract of Akar Bulu (Merremia vitifolia) Leaves Using GC-MS

Abstract

Akar bulu (Merremia vitifolia) leaves are used traditionally as medicine, but the chemical profile of their methanol extract has not been reported. This study aimed to identify the chemical compounds in the methanol extract of M. vitifolia leaves using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A 100 g portion of simplicia powder was macerated in methanol for 3×24 hours, the filtrate was concentrated, and the thick extract was analyzed by GC-MS using an RTX-5MS column with helium as the carrier gas. The extract yield was 11.85%. GC-MS analysis detected 82 peaks, comprising 20 compounds with a similarity index (SI) ≥90%, 15 compounds with SI 80–89%, 25 compounds with SI 70–79%, and 22 compounds with SI <70%. Among compounds with SI ≥70%, those with the largest peak areas were phenol, 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethylpropyl)- (22.01%; SI 78%), 1,2-dihydro-6-methoxy-2-oxoquinoline-4-carboxylic acid (21.25%; SI 79%), and (E)-4-(3-hydroxyprop-1-en-1-yl)-2-methoxyphenol (6.16%; SI 86%). The compounds with the highest SI, namely benzoic acid and 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (SI 97%) and n-hexadecanoic acid (SI 94%), had peak areas of only 0.80–1.46%. These results give a preliminary picture of the chemical composition of the methanol extract of akar bulu leaves and need to be confirmed through further characterization.