Chenopodium murale L. is a winter weed of family Chenopodiaceae. In this study,
bioactive compounds present in ethyl acetate fraction of root extract of C. murale were
identified. The weed plants were collected from Jehlem, Pakistan. Its roots were dried,
powdered and extracted in methanol. After evaporation of the solvent, the remaining
extract was mixed in water and partitioned with n-hexane, chloroform and finally with ethyl
acetate. The last fraction was analyzed through GC-MS that indicated the presence of 15
compounds. These included the three major compounds namely o-xylene (15.03%),
cyclopentanol (13.42%) and 2-hexanol (13.99%). The moderately and less abundant
compounds were ethylbenzene (5.47%); methyl acetate (6.00%); cholestrol (4.33%); 2-
phenanthrenol (3.01%); cyclohexanone (5.32%); p-xylene (5.12%); furostan-3,26-diyl
dibenzoate (3.29%); dihexyl phthalate (4.99%); tricosanoic acid (2.74%); dioctyl phthalate
(4.99%), hexanal (3.05%) and ergostane (1.29%). Literature survey showed that 10 of the
identified compounds exhibited various biological activities including antifungal,
antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer and antipsoriatic. However, this study concludes that
most of the compounds were antimicrobial in nature.