Bioactive Metabolites of Marchantia subintegra Mitt.: A GC–MS Study

Bryophytes are emerging as valuable sources of structurally diverse bioactive compounds with significant pharmacological potential. Marchantia subintegra, a liverwort species abundantly found in Arunachal Pradesh, India, was investigated for its chemical composition and therapeutic potential. The whole plant was collected, shade-dried, and extracted using methanol. The extract was analyzed using Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS), revealing a total of 53 compounds. Among these, the ten most abundant metabolites included stigmasterol, ergost-5-en-3-ol, ethyl icosapentaenoate, phytol, (Z,Z)-icos-11-en-1-yl icos-11-enoate, hexadecanoic acid methyl ester, cis-5,8,11,14,17- eicosapentaenoic acid, octanal 7-methoxy-3,7-dimethyl-, neophytadiene and dimethyl 3,6-dimethyl-4-cyclohexene-1,2- dicarboxylate. These compounds belong to sterols, diterpenes, fatty acids, and their esters, which are known to exhibit antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities. The dominance of these metabolite classes aligns with previous reports from other Marchantia species and supports their pharmacological relevance. The study highlights M. subintegra as a promising candidate for natural product–based drug discovery. Integration of chemical profiling with in-silico approaches can further facilitate the identification of potential lead compounds for therapeutic applications. Overall, this work contributes to expanding the phytochemical knowledge of liverworts and reinforces their importance in developing novel drug candidates from bryophytes.