ABSTRACT
In recent years, natural products have attracted the attention of the scientific community and studies have shown that plants can be used to treat and control human diseases. This study determined the phytochemical content and antioxidant capacity of Dennettia tripetala leaf methanol extract and Abelmoschus esculentus leaf chloroform ethanol extract using standard biochemical procedures. Leaves are air-dried for 2 weeks until they were crisp. The leaves were finely ground to obtain 929.34 g of Dennettia tripetala and 364.77 g of Abelmoschus esculentus. Dennettia tripetala was immersed in 6.25 L of methanol for 72 hours, with regular stirring, and Abelmoschus esculentus was immersed in 5 L of chloroform ethanol for 72 hours with occasional continuous stirring. The solution was filtered through muslin cloth, evaporated and concentrated on a rotary evaporator. Temperature 45⁰C to obtain the crude extract. Phytochemical screening (quantitative and qualitative) of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), reducing power and radical scavenging activity of trivalent antioxidant were analyzed. As a result of qualitative analysis, it was found that alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, reducing sugars, carbohydrates and amino acids were present in D. tripetala methanol leaf extract and the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, reducing sugars, carbohydrate and amino acids in A. esculentus chloroform ethanol leaf extracts. D. tripetala contains more phytochemicals than A. esculentus. Also, D. tripetala leaf extract contained 0.62±0.03(mg QE/gram extract) and 0.59±0.01 each (mg QE/gram extract), respectively. A. esculentus chloroform ethanol leaf extract showed 1.07±0.09 (mg QE/gram extract) and 0.40±0.03(mg QE/gram extract) for flavonoids and phenol, respectively. In addition, the methanol extract of D. tripetala and the chloroform ethanol extract of A. esculentus were 0.62±0.03, 0.59±0.01 (mg QE/gram extract) and 0.59±0.01, 0.40±0.03(mg QE/gram extract) for flavonoids and phenols, respectively. The recovery activities of D. tripetala leaf extract compared with the standard and the IC50 values of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity for D. tripetala methanol leaf extract was 1.048µg/mL. Decreased activity of D. tripetala leaf extract compared to standard and IC50 values of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity against A. esculentus chloroform ethanol leaf extract is 0.976µg/mL. The reducing activity of D. tripetala leaf extract compared to the reference and IC50 values of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity for D. tripetala and A. esculentus leaf extracts were 1.048µg/mL and 0.976µg/mL respectively with the ethanol standard. D. tripetala has high scavenging efficiency than A. esculentus. High performance liquid chromatography result for D. tripetala and A. esculentus leaf extracts indicate the presence of kaempferol, epihedrine, catechin, anthocyanin, dihydrocytisine, aphyllidine, cyanogenic glycoside, steroids, narigenin, tannin, flavonones, flavone, proanthocyanaidin, ribalidnidine, spartein and oxalate. Sapogenin and ammodendrine were absent in D. tripetala and sapogenin was absent in A. esculentus. Finally, this study revealed that D. tripetala methanol leaf extract and A. esculentus chloroform ethanol leaf extract are rich in phytochemicals and have powerful effects.
