FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT SOLVENT EXTRACTS OF WATER HYACINTH (EICHHORNIA CRASSIPES MART SOLMS.) AN ALLELOPATHIC APPROACH

Identification of secondary metabolic fingerprint by chromatography and spectroscopy tools provides useful information about qualitative, quantitative and pattern of composition of these biomolecules. Recently, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) reveals phytochemical profiles containing overlapping signals from a wide array of the compounds that are present when whole cells are analyzed. Eichhornia crassipes samples extracted with different solvents continuously was subjected to FTIR to determine whether the plant can be discriminated on the basis of biochemical profiles using solvents. The extraction factor was superior in water rich in polar molecules. The FTIR signal at 900, 1500, 1714, 3000, 3100cm -1 were considered as an indicator of polyphenols. The functional groups of each extract were identified. Conclusion: The FTIR method was validated as a fine analytical tool to investigate the finger print and to predict the composition of different solvent extracts of Eichhornia crassipes. Further studies are warranted to analyze the phytochemicals in each extract qualitatively and quantitatively and also to evaluate its allelopathic nature to design a plant based herbicide.