GS-MS Profile, Total Flavonoid and Phenolic Contents and Antioxidant Capacity of Leaves of Vitelleria paradoxa c.f. Gaertn

Abstract

Vitellaria paradoxa is an important medicinal plant that is used for the treatment of infections such as diarrhea, dysentery, helminthes, gastrointestinal tract, skin, and wounds. This research aims to determine other important uses of the plant leaves and quantify the phytochemicals present in the leaves. The plant leaves were extracted with two solvents (n-hexane and methanol). The phytochemicals were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed using standard methods. The antioxidant activity was determined using DPPH. In the qualitative phytochemical screening of the methanol extract flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, and tannins were identified as being present while steroids, anthraquinones, and glycosides were absent. All the screened secondary metabolites were absent in the n-hexane extract. In the GC-MS analysis of the methanol and n-hexane extracts seven compounds were obtained from the methanol extract while a total of twenty-four compounds were obtained from the n-hexane extract. The quantitative determination of the total flavonoid and phenolic contents showed that the leaves high content of flavonoids (91.00 mg quercetin equivalent/g extract) and phenolics (91.39 mg Gallic acid equivalent /g extract). These phytochemicals could be responsible for its high antioxidant activity (79.62%).