Gas chromatography (GC) is a widely applied technique and has played a fundamental role in determining how many components and in what proportion they exist in a mixture. There is a great interest in plant and plant derived phytochemicals as food source. Cauliflower is one such popularly consumed vegetable, possessing potent bioactive components where the leaves of the vegetables are often neglected or discarded and used as fodder. Hence an attempt was made to analyze the presence of different compounds using GCMS there by exploring the potential benefits of these leaves which is solely ignored by majority of population especially in Tamil Nadu. The leaves were washed and oven dried at 400 C. The dried leaf were screened through GCMS and the results confirmed the presence of twenty eight different compounds such as linolenic acid an essential fatty acid, few other fatty acids namely palmitic acid, stearic acid, mysteric acids, phytol and stigmasterol and antioxidant and antimicrobial potential compounds. The present study throws light on the presence of promising compounds that can be consumed in regular diet in maintaining good health and can be technically applied in preparing natural therapeutic medicines to combat various degenerative diseases and can also be used in food processing industries due to its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Though leaves of Cauliflower have a very high waste index, the present study analyzed is an attempt to exploit the potential benefits of this underutilized vegetable leaves there by reducing the food wastage.
