Before going to extraction with polar solvents, we need to defat the plant materials with lw polar solvents like petroleum ether. My question is, what are the possible secondary metabolites to petroleum ether other than fats, oils, lipids?
Aastha is exactly right. You will get steroidal compounds and triterpenoids as major compounds apart from the fatty constituents in pet ether or hexane.
Yes non-polar compounds like fatty acids,waxes,steroids and terpenoids
Hi friends, thanks for you answer. But am getting positive for quinones and coumarins.. Can we expect these metabolites in petroleum ether extract?
Quinones are found to have a slight solubiltiy in petroleum ether eg. 1,4 benzoquinone. Non-polar coumarins are highly soluble in n-hexane and petroleum ether, while medium polar coumarins are soluble in chloroform, ether, ethyl acetate and acetone. It is even possible to extract glycosides of coumarins using these solvents. So you can expect these metaboites in your extract.
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