Phytochemical, biological, and in-silico characterization of Portulacaria afra Jacq.: A possible source of natural products for functional food and medicine

Abstract

• Portulacaria afra is a medicinal plant known to possess different traditional uses. • Different solvent extract/fractions of the whole plant were screened for phytochemical analysis, antioxidant, and enzyme inhibition activities. • The studied plant extract/fractions were found to contain considerable bioactive compounds and biological potential. • The molecular docking studies further highlighted the interaction between the important phytochemicals and the tested enzymes. Portulacaria afra Jacq. (Family: Didiereaceae) is an important medicinal plant having several traditional uses for treating common ailments. The current study was conducted to evaluate the phytochemical, biological, and in-silico assessments of hydro-methanol extract and fractions ( n -hexane and chloroform) of P. afra whole plant. The phytoconstituents composition was established by evaluating total bioactive contents and GC–MS analysis. For the biological potential, antioxidant (DPPH, FRAP, ABTS, CUPRAC), enzyme inhibition (α-amylase and α-glucosidase), and antibacterial assays were performed. The n -hexane extract was found to contain a comparatively higher amount of total phenolic (36.07 mg GAE/g extract) and flavonoid (831.58 QE/g extract) contents, and also showed the highest inhibition potential against both the tested enzymes. The chloroform extract was most active for antioxidant assays, whereas the hydro-methanol extract presented considerable antibacterial activity against E. coli . The GC–MS of the n-hexane fraction resulted in the tentative identification of several chemical compounds, most of these were belonging to alkane, alkene, and fatty acid derivatives. Furthermore, three main phytochemicals as identified by the GC–MS analysis from this plant were studied for the molecular docking studies against α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes. To conclude, this plant could be further explored as a possible candidate for identifying novel potential bioactive lead compounds for functional food and medicine.