1. Introduction
Quisqualis indica L syn. Q. Densiflora, family Combretaceae, is
a large woody, scandent shrub [1]. It is indigenous to tropical
Africa and Indo-Malaysian region. It has been probably introduced
into India, as it is not found growing wild anywhere. It
is a hardy creeper commonly planted in gardens for the brightly
coloured showy flowers. The plant is in profuse blooming during
March–May and September–November though it flowers through
out the year. Flowers appear in constant succession in drooping
clusters; they open in the evening as white flowers, gradually
assuming a pink tinge by morning and deepening to deep red
by late afternoon [1]. The flowers have a characteristic mild
floral sweet astringent fragrance pervading into the surroundings
especially during evenings. The aqueous extracts of roots,
leaves and fruits of Q. indica are reported to possess anthelmintic
action and as a germicide against skin diseases [1–3]. Tadros
et al. [4] isolated the floral volatiles by extraction with hexane
and identified 24 components by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
(GC/MS) analysis. The major components reported are
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 11 26591162; fax: +91 11 26591121.
E-mail address: snn@rdat.iitd.ac.in (S.N. Naik).
hydrocarbons (61.38%) including -pinene (10.87%) and 1-ethyl-
1-phenyl decane (8.13%). The present work describes extractions
of Q. indica flowers by subcritical CO2 as well as fractionation
of pentane extract with subcritical CO2 and methanol. The
components have been identified by GC/MS and percentage compositions
of the extracts are obtained by gas chromatography
(GC-FID).