Essential oils are substances obtained from plant materials and are complex mixtures whose composition varies. In this study, the chemical composition, and larvicidal activity of extracted essential oils from some aromatic plants were evaluated. Modified steam distillation apparatus was used to extract essential oils from the Citrus limon linn leaf, Vitex trifolia seed and Cananga odorata. Furthermore, the plant materials were tested using FTIR, GC-MS, and larvicidal activity test. Citrus limon linn produced more amount of essential oil (1.4ml), Vitex trifola (0.7ml) and Cananga odorata (0.5ml) after 3hours of steam distillation. The result obtained from the infrared spectra indicates the functional groups of the compounds present in Citrus limon linn, Vitex trifolia and Cananga odorata. GC-MS analysis identified, 13, 12 and 24 chemical constituents present in Citrus limon linn , Vitex trifolia and Cananga odorata essential oil respectively. The three main essential oil and their percentage compositions are D-Limonene (22.82%), Citral (25.20 %), and Cis-Verbenol (20.43%) for Citrus limon linn. Leaf essential oil, Sabinene (39.14%), Caryophyllene (26.45%) and 1 R-α Pinene (15.20%) for Vitex trifolia seed essential oil, and Linalool (35.30%), Ascabiol (23.54%), Caryophyllene (20.30%), Copaene (12.76%) and Germacrene D (11.32%). However, the results from the larvicidal activity reveals that essential oil extracted from Citrus limon linn, Vitex trifolia and Cananaga odorata may serve as insecticide and can be used as potent insecticide for the control of mosquitoes.

In this research work, various materials were used and they include; apparatus such as fume cupboard, measuring cylinder, spatula, centrifuge, pipette and reagent such as Na2CO3, CaCl2, H2SO4, HCl, AgNO3. The nutrient composition of V. Amydalina are: Phytate 11.9 ± 0.01 (mg/100g), oxalate 244.02 ± 0.57 (mg/100g), tannins 1.28 ± 0.50 (mg/100g), alkaloid 1.66 ± 0.01%, HCN 2036.00 ± 0.58 (mg/100g) and M. oleifera are: phytate 10.58 ± 0.01 (mg/100g), oxalate 334.33 ± 0.67 (mg/100g), tannin 8.19 ± 0.01 (mg/100g), alkaloid 1.72 ± 0.01% and HCN 3998.30 ± 0.49 (mg/100g). These results showed that V. Amydalina leaves could be a bioresources for Zn as a result of the low level of phytate. But they are not Cu bioavailable resources due to the high level of oxalate. Hence, people are encouraged to utilize V. amydalina and M. oleifera leaves as a good source of micronutrient particularly those prove to be bioavailable.

Biodiesel was produced by transesterifying Khaya senegalensis oil with methanol in the presence of Al2O3 as catalyst. Molar ratio of 15:1 (methanol to oil) was followed to shift the reaction to product side for more yield of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and the use of a heterogeneous catalyst enabled the reaction to proceed faster. The oil and biodiesel were characterized following ASTM standards. The free fatty acid, acid value, viscosity, specific gravity, moisture content, saponification value, pour point, cloud point were examined in this research and the result obtained show that Khaya senegalensis Seed Oil is a good for biodiesel production. The biodiesel obtained was separated from glycerol, washed with distilled water and dried. Samples of oil and biodiesel were scan within mid-infrared region of 4000 cm-1 – 400 cm-1 with fourier transform infrared spectrometer by agilent technologies. The spectra obtained were interpreted and analyzed with the aid of structure correlation chart. The results revealed that the biodiesel contained fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The FTIR spectrum for the biodiesel revealed the functional groups with characteristics bands, C=O, -(CH2)n-, C-O, C=C and C-H in the spectrum.