Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Potentials of Icacina trichantha Oliv. Leaf Extracts

Abstract

The chemical compositions of the leaf extracts of Icacina trichantha plant extracted successively with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol was analyzed by GC/GCMS. The preliminary phytochemical screening conducted on the crude leaf extracts revealed the presence of tannins, flavonoids, phenols and glycosides which are known to support the bioactive activities of the plant in folk medicine. The antibacterial activity of Icacina trichantha of the three extracts against gram-negative bacteria namely; Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella oxytoca was evaluated in the present research study. It was found that the hexane and ethyl acetate extracts are more effective than that of ethanol against the three bacteria strains. The free radical scavenging activity of the extracts by spectrophotometric assay on the reduction of 1,1-diphenyl-2picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was also examined. The n-hexane extract possessed the highest antioxidant activity with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.21 μg mLG1 followed by ethyl acetate extract; 3.917 μg mLG1 and ethanol; 4.812 μg mLG1 . We hereby report for the first time the major compounds from the hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts of Icacina trichantha to be stearolic acid (30.74%), oleic acid (36.04%) and erucic acid (29.01%) respectively; all of which contribute individually and or synergistically to the biological activities reported in this study.