Purpose: To explore the hypotensive activity and chemical composition of Moringa oleifera Lam (Moringaceae) roots.
Methods: The fresh roots of M. oleifera was cut into small pieces and successively extracted with petroleum ether (PE) and dichloromethane (DC). PE extract was further divided into MRP and MRP -1. DC extract showed a thick mass during evaporation which was separated as MRDC -IN. The mother liquor left was divided into MRDC and MRDC -1. All residues were analyzed by gas chromatographymass spectroscopy (GC-MS) using ZB-5 column. Identification of each extract and fraction was based on comparison of their retention indices (RI), by co-injecting authentic compounds (7, 20.3 %) , stigmastan -3, 5, diene (24, 19.32 %), methyl 14-hydroxy-5-tetradecenoate (9, 19.22 %), 1 , 11 diphenyl undecane (47, 18.78 %) and cyclopentanyl hexadecane (39, 14.44 %) were the major constituents among the various hydrocarbons, fatty acids, esters, alcohols, aldehydes, isothiocyanate, aromatics, steroids, terphenyl and sulphur-containing