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TNAU Researchers Receive Patent for Extracting Medicinal Cadambine from Ancient Kadamba Tree

SimpliCity News Team · 09 Jul 2026

Coimbatore: Researchers at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) have been granted an official patent by the Indian Patent Office for developing a novel method to extract a medicinally valuable bioactive compound from the Kadamba tree, which is prominently mentioned in ancient Sangam literature.

The patent, titled "A Novel Method for Enrichment, Extraction and Quantification of Cadambine from Neolamarckia cadamba," was developed by a research team comprising Ma. Ra. Gopal, Dr N. Senthil, Dr S. Vellaikumar, and Dr A. Balasubramanian.

The ancient Kadamba tree (Neolamarckia cadamba), referenced in the Tamil Sangam literary work Agananuru, is highly valued in traditional medicine for its analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties. Traditionally, the bark of this tree has been used to treat fever and skin diseases, while its leaves are used to treat wounds and diarrhea. Additionally, the fruit acts as a natural antioxidant and pain reliever.

The newly patented method enables the extraction and quantification of cadambine, the compound responsible for many of these therapeutic properties. The standardized process employs freeze-drying of bark tissues to prevent thermal degradation, followed by purification of impurities through adsorbent application.

For precise final measurement, the state-of-the-art Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) facility at TNAU's Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology (COXBIT) was utilized. Notably, this method achieves cadambine extraction efficiency of 93% to 94%.

At a felicitation ceremony marking this milestone, Dr V. Subbramanian, Vice-Chancellor in-charge of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, presented the patent certificate to the research team and commended their achievement.

The event was attended by S. Babu, Dean of Post Graduate Studies; Ma. Ra. Gopal, PhD scholar from the research team; Dr N. Senthil, Director of the Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics; Professor S. Vellaikumar from the Department of Plant Biotechnology; and Dr A. Balasubramanian, Dean of Forest College and Research Station.

This patented method is expected to provide scientific validation for the medicinal properties of the Kadamba tree used in traditional medicine and pave the way for its utilization in pharmaceutical production.

TNAU Tamil Nadu Agricultural University kadamba tree cadambine patent traditional medicine research biotechnology Coimbatore herbal medicine sangam literature

TNAU Researchers Receive Patent for Extracting Medicinal Cadambine from Ancient Kadamba Tree

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