Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical profiling of crude fractions of Pechuel-Loeschea leubnitziae leaves

Abstract

Pechuel-Loeschea leubnitziae is a predominant medicinal plant in Namibia. It is traditionally utilized in treatment of gastrointestinal issues, sexually transmitted infections and common cold. Despite its therapeutic potential, the phytochemicals profile and compounds compositions are yet to be scientifically validated. This study was conducted to determine the spectrum and total phytochemical constituents present in P. leubnitziae leaves extract using standard qualitative and quantitative methods. Fine powder of P. leubnitziae was extracted by cold maceration using a serial exhaustive approach in a 1:5 dilution in hexane, ethyl acetate, ethanol, methanol and water. A f t e r 7 2 h , obtained filtrate was concentrated using a rotary evaporator or lyophilizer. Crude fraction of each solvent obtained was screened for phytochemicals using qualitative and quantitative methods. The yield of the extracts post-extraction ranged from 5.361 to 23.93 g. The extracts contain alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids and tannins. There were significant differences in the total phytochemical contents of each solvent. Total alkaloids contents (TAC) ranged from 29.12 to 106.44 µg, total flavonoids contents (TFC) ranged from 30.41 to 78.84 µg, total phenolic contents (TPC) ranged from 57.14 to 58.70 µg and total tannins contents (TTC) ranged from 13.06 to 30.85 µg. The leaves o f P. leubnitziae contain phytochemicals including alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolic, terpenoids, tannins and saponins that are known to have pharmacological properties and they can be explored for biological potentials.

Phytochemical Composition and Proximate Analysis of the Medicinal Plant Eichhornia crassipes L.

“…Total polyphenol content absorbance was observed using a spectrophotometer at 760 nm. The total phenolic content was expressed as Gallic Acid Equivalents (μg GA/mg of dried extract) in mg/ml plant extract (Mariah et al, 2021).…”

“…The total content of alkaloids was calculated as Atropine equivalents (μg AE/mg of dried extract). Reagent blank was prepared in the same manner but without extracts (Mariah et al, 2021).…”

“…Traditional medicines are described by World Health organization as information, skills, and practices which depends on way of life, speculative aspects and native experiences which vary among diverse cultures in deterrence or mental illness (Mariah et al, 2021). Plant materials are still used as an important resource for the treatment of combating illnesses, together with infectious diseases, development of novel drugs and also used as an agent for agrochemicals, food additives and industrial chemicals (Durai et al, 2016) which is easily existing, secure and competent and infrequently have side effects which enhances its acceptability to consuming people (Santosh et al, 2019;Kaleeswaran et al, 2019).…”

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“…Qualitative Analysis of Phytochemicals: The phytochemicals were screened using modified literature procedures 18,19 . Alkaloids were screened using the Wagner's and Mayer's tests, while flavonoids were screened using the cyanidin test.…”

“…The total alkaloid content (TAC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total condensed tannin content (TCTC) and total phenolic content (TPC) of methanol extracts of the root of Boehmeria nivea and the barks of Gmelina arborea and Oroxylum indicum were determined by employing the standard spectrophotometric methods, bromocresol green, aluminium chloride, butanol-hydrochloric acid-iron and Folin-Ciocalteu methods, respectively [18][19][20][21][22] . Caffeine was used as a reference compound for the TAC determination.…”