Paper Details

Name: Arun Dev Sharma & Herman S. Uppal
Country: India

Year: 2026
Volume: Volume: 13, Issue: 2 (July-December)
Page Number: 37-52
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22155801

ABSTRACT

Background: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. is a high-value ornamental and medicinal shrub exhibiting significant variations in floral color morphotypes. While polar pigments are widely studied, a comprehensive comparative mapping of their lipophilic and secondary metabolite profiles across different color variants is highly scarce.

Objective: This study aimed to establish a definitive chemical fingerprint profile of five distinct floral varieties of H. rosa-sinensis (Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, and White) using Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) coupled with unsupervised chemometric analysis.

Methods: Dried floral petals were subjected to exhaustive solid-liquid extraction via a Soxhlet system using methanol. GC-FID was used to identify phytocompounds. Chemometric variations were modeled using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Pearson correlation metrics.

Results: Chromatographic screening revealed strong phenotype-to-metabolite variations. The Red variety was characterized by an overwhelming accumulation of anthocyanin complexes, predominantly Cyanidin-sophoroside (40.58%) and Delphinidin-3-sambubioside (18.90%). The Pink variety retained a down-regulated fraction of Cyanidin-sophoroside (15.53%). Diverging into the flavonol pathway, the Orange morphotype uniquely expressed Kaempferol-dihexoside (29.22%), while the Yellow variant was driven by Quercetin 7-O-rutinoside (28.76%) and Kaempferol-3-glucoside (21.72%). Conversely, the White variety targeted pale anti-inflammatory compounds, yielding Gossypin (14.74%), Hibiscus acid (7.91%), and Falcarinol (7.57%). Unsupervised PCA successfully resolved the five varieties into separate quadrants, with PC1 and PC2 explaining 81.53% of the cumulative dataset variance.

Conclusion: These findings reveal that visual floral variations in H. rosa-sinensis co-occur with major shifts in lipophilic, defensive, and volatile pathways. This comparative fingerprint baseline provides critical molecular insights for the targeted extraction of variety-specific metabolites in the cosmetics, functional food, and pharmaceutical industries.

Keywords: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis; GC-FID; Phytochemical Profiling; Chemometrics; Cyanidin-sophoroside; Chemotaxonomy.