Medicinal plants are rich source of secondary metabolites, biosynthetically derived from primary metabolites. Secondary plant products are of major interest because of their biological activities ranging from antibacterial, antibiotic, insecticidal, hormonal, pharmacological, pharmaceutical. Present study focused on isolation and identification of various phytosterols from leaves extract of Maytenus emarginata. The extraction of phytosterols done using a procedure describe by Kaul & Staba. Preliminary identification was done by TLC and PTLC chromatographic techniques, while GC-MS was used for advanced analysis. The present observation showed presence of three sterols namely β-sitosterol, Stigmasterol and Lenosterol in the leaves of this plant. Isolated phytosterols compared with standard phytosterols by using Rf value, melting point, IR and NMR spectral analysis. GC-MS analysis of leaf extract of Maytenus emarginata identified a total of 45 compounds out of many that have important pharmacological activities. From the results, it is evident that Maytenus emarginata contains various bioactive compounds and is recommended as a plant of phytopharmaceutical importance.

Keywords: Secondary Metabolites, Phytosterols, PTLC, GC-MS, Phytopharmaceutical.