Abstract

PURIFICATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF PHARMACOLOGICALLY ACTIVE COMPOUNDS FROM THE GONAD OF THE COMMON SLATE PENCIL SEA URCHIN, STOMOPNEUSTES VARIOLARIS

Vanathi Devi. P. P* and Selvaraj. D

ABSTRACT

Sea urchins are one of the most successful ancient groups of marine invertebrates. The success of urchins depends on the accumulation of bioactive metabolites. In the present study, the ethanolic extract of the common slate pencil sea urchin Stomopneustes variolaris were subjected to HPLC purification. The high peak fraction thus obtained from HPLC purification was further used for the identification of pharmacologically active constituents by using GC-MS analysis. A total of 10 compounds were isolated from the Ist fraction and 7 chemical constituents have been identified from the IInd fraction of S. variolaris gonad extract. Among them 1, 2- Benzenedicarboxylic acid, butyl 2- methylpropyl ester is the dominant component present in the first fraction whereas 1, 2- Benzenedicarboxylic acid, butyl cyclohxyl ester is the dominant component present in IInd fraction. The compounds identified by GC-MS are medicinally valuable and possesses various pharmaceutical applications. This is the first report which shows the pharmacologically active compounds of S. variolaris.

Keywords: Slate pencil sea urchin, Stomopneustes variolaris, Pharmacologically active compounds.