GC-MS analyses of young and mature Archidium Ohioense Schimp Ex. C. Mull and Philonotis hastate (Duby) Wijk & Margad extracts

Analyses of the constituents of the crude extracts obtained from young and mature moss species namely: Archidium ohioense and Philonotis hastata were conducted with a view to investigating the effects of maturity stages on their bioactive constituents. The mosses collected from their natural population were air dried at ambient temperature in the laboratory, extracted with methanol and the crude extracts subjected to gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The results of the analyses showed the presence of 20 compounds in young A. ohioense with n-hexadecanoic acid [26.60%], bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate [12.47%], bicyclo (3.1.1)heptane 2,6,6-trimethyl-[1r-(1.alpha.,2.beta.,5.alpha.)]- [11.59%] and phytol [9.69%] forming the prominent components while in the mature A. ohioense, 13 compounds were present, from which n-hexadecanoic acid [51.25%], hexadecanoic acid 2-hydroxy-1-(hydroxymethyl)-ethyl ester [9.90%] and n-propyl 9-octadecenoate [7.47%] formed the prominent components. In P. hastata, 20 compounds were identified in the young stage sample with n-hexadecanoic acid [22.46%], bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate [20.95%] and phytol [18.14%] as the prominent components while 9 compounds were identified in the mature sample with n-hexadecanoic acid[51.84%], hexadecanoic acid 2-hydroxy-1-(hydroxymethyl)ethyl ester [18.12%] and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate [9.11%] which formed the prominent components. The study indicated that, maturity stages at collection of the mosses affected their bioactive compositions, with the young stage mosses showing more bioactive compounds than the mature ones. Keywords: A. ohioense, P. hastata, Mosses, Maturity stages, Crude extract, GC-MS.