Exploring Antioxidant Activity, Essential Oil Profiling and Bioactive Profiling of Pogostemon mollis Benth. through GC-MS and UPLC-QTOF

Exploring Antioxidant Activity, Essential Oil Profiling and Bioactive Profiling of Pogostemon mollis Benth. through GC-MS and UPLC-QTOF | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Exploring Antioxidant Activity, Essential Oil Profiling and Bioactive Profiling of Pogostemon mollis Benth. through GC-MS and UPLC-QTOF S. A. Momin, M. S. Jadhav, R. V. Gurav This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7446761/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Jan, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The genus Pogostemon (Lamiaceae) is known for its diverse pharmacological and ethnomedicinal properties, which may be due to the presence of various bioactive constituents. This study investigates antioxidant potential, profiling of phytochemicals, essential oil and their derivatives from Pogostemon mollis Benth., and correlation among them. Plant parts were taken in fresh and dried forms, were extracted using methanol, acetone and distilled water through ultrasonication (USC). Essential oil was obtained from the aerial parts through hydro-distillation with a Clevenger apparatus. Antioxidant activity by DPPH, FRAP, and ABTS, demonstrating significant radical scavenging and reducing power; dry aqueous leaf extract showing the highest inhibition (65.1 ± 0.11%) and the lowest in fresh aqueous stem extract (9.80 ± 0.24%). Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were checked for extracts, revealing maximum phenolic content in dry methanolic leaves extract (249.9 ± 0.47 mg GAE/g) and minimum in fresh acetonic root extract (64.12 ± 0.31 mg GAE/g). The highest flavonoid content was found in dry acetonic leaves extract (50.5 ± 0.00 mg RE/g), while the lowest was in fresh aqueous root extract (16.04 ± 0.49 mg RE/g). UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS revealed 99 bioactive compounds, such as anticancer (Camptothecin), antiviral (Zidovudine), flavonoid (Luteolin), and terpenoid (Nerolidol) agents. GC-MS identified 68 compounds in the essential oil, with major constituents including Lupeol (6.33%), Alpha-Cyperone (7.15%), and Caryophyllene oxide (7.23%). Significant correlations were found between total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activities, highlighting the therapeutic potential of P. mollis for developing natural antioxidants and bioactive formulations. Biological sciences/Biochemistry Biological sciences/Biotechnology Biological sciences/Chemical biology Physical sciences/Chemistry Biological sciences/Drug discovery Biological sciences/Plant sciences Antioxidant Essential oil GC-MS Lamiaceae Pogostemon mollis UPLC-QTOF MS/MS Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Jan, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 17 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 06 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 29 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Sep, 2025 Reviews received at journal 17 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 17 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 12 Sep, 2025 Editor invited by journal 02 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 01 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 01 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7446761","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":519160525,"identity":"c10a6b61-3ca4-4eec-9b65-3cbca9c131aa","order_by":0,"name":"S. A. 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UPLC-QTOF","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Antioxidant, Essential oil, GC-MS, Lamiaceae, Pogostemon mollis, UPLC-QTOF MS/MS","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7446761/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7446761/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The genus Pogostemon (Lamiaceae) is known for its diverse pharmacological and ethnomedicinal properties, which may be due to the presence of various bioactive constituents. This study investigates antioxidant potential, profiling of phytochemicals, essential oil and their derivatives from Pogostemon mollis Benth., and correlation among them. Plant parts were taken in fresh and dried forms, were extracted using methanol, acetone and distilled water through ultrasonication (USC). Essential oil was obtained from the aerial parts through hydro-distillation with a Clevenger apparatus. Antioxidant activity by DPPH, FRAP, and ABTS, demonstrating significant radical scavenging and reducing power; dry aqueous leaf extract showing the highest inhibition (65.1 ± 0.11%) and the lowest in fresh aqueous stem extract (9.80 ± 0.24%). Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were checked for extracts, revealing maximum phenolic content in dry methanolic leaves extract (249.9 ± 0.47 mg GAE/g) and minimum in fresh acetonic root extract (64.12 ± 0.31 mg GAE/g). The highest flavonoid content was found in dry acetonic leaves extract (50.5 ± 0.00 mg RE/g), while the lowest was in fresh aqueous root extract (16.04 ± 0.49 mg RE/g). UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS revealed 99 bioactive compounds, such as anticancer (Camptothecin), antiviral (Zidovudine), flavonoid (Luteolin), and terpenoid (Nerolidol) agents. GC-MS identified 68 compounds in the essential oil, with major constituents including Lupeol (6.33%), Alpha-Cyperone (7.15%), and Caryophyllene oxide (7.23%). Significant correlations were found between total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activities, highlighting the therapeutic potential of P. mollis for developing natural antioxidants and bioactive formulations.","manuscriptTitle":"Exploring Antioxidant Activity, Essential Oil Profiling and Bioactive Profiling of Pogostemon mollis Benth. through GC-MS and UPLC-QTOF","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-09-26 15:18:24","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7446761/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-10-17T15:12:18+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-06T09:18:19+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"323722882557634617413696982684066601474","date":"2025-10-01T10:34:10+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-29T22:01:17+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"222759520377601623674615390182709671424","date":"2025-09-28T15:19:58+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-17T12:29:22+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"34953334709402010119381504658411892129","date":"2025-09-17T11:40:41+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-17T10:10:07+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-09-12T08:21:56+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-02T21:27:08+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-09-01T09:46:18+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2025-09-01T09:45:03+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"dec1b464-c461-4b58-a562-2a3b69704c03","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 26th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":55165121,"name":"Biological sciences/Biochemistry"},{"id":55165122,"name":"Biological sciences/Biotechnology"},{"id":55165123,"name":"Biological sciences/Chemical biology"},{"id":55165124,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry"},{"id":55165125,"name":"Biological sciences/Drug discovery"},{"id":55165126,"name":"Biological sciences/Plant sciences"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-02T16:08:08+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7446761","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35989-2","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2026-01-27 15:59:06","publishedOnDateReadable":"January 27th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-09-26 15:18:24","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-026-35989-2","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35989-2","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7446761","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7446761","identity":"rs-7446761","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}