Phenolic Profile and Antioxidant Potential of Aqueous Extracts of Selected Traditional Anti-cough Plants

The recent surge in attention towards plant-based antioxidants can be attributed to their perceived advantageous impact on human health. The present study assessed the phenolic profile, antioxidant potential, and free radical scavenging ability of hot aqueous leaf extracts obtained from Vernonia amygdalina, Piper guineense, and Gongronema latifolium. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used to examine phenolic profile.  Antioxidant capacity was conducted using total flavonoid content (TFC), total phenol content (TPC), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, while ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), nitric oxide (NO), hydroxyl (OH), and 2, 2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) were analysed for their radicals scavenging activities. G. latifolium displayed notable phenolic compounds, such as lunamarin (76.32mg/ml), ribalinidine (64.08 mg/ml), gallocatechin (48.58mg/ml), aglycone (41.69 mg/ml), flavonone (33.45mg/ml), and flavan-3-ol (30.49mg/ml). The plant extracts contained resveratol, kaempferol, and ribalinidine in a consistent manner across all samples. The findings suggest that the plants exhibits noteworthy antioxidant potential, with  G. latifolium displaying the highest antioxidant capacity (96.18 ± 0.11µg/mL) and total phenolic content (28.50 ± 0.04 µg/mL). V. amgydalina  showed highest polyphenol oxidase activity,  at 7.14 ± 0.10 µg/mL G. latifolium as well showed high •NO scavenging radicals and FRAP activity, while exhibiting the least efficacy in •OH scavenging radicals. The results indicate that all three samples demonstrated a noteworthy increase in DPPH scavenging activity, which was statistically significant at  p<0.05 compared to standard. Results reveals that plant extracts showed significant phenolic compounds,  antioxidant and free radicals property. These observations provides a rationale for the traditional use of these extracts in folk medicine for management and treatment of cough. Keywords. Gongronema latifoluim, Veronia amygdalina, Piper guineense, Phenolic profile, Antioxidant capacity, Free Radical, cough

GCMS and FTIR analysis of ethanol and methanol leave extract of Urena lobata (Caesar weed) for bioactive phytochemical constituents

This study was designed to apply the highly sophisticated biological and chemical characterization techniques–(GC-MS) Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and FTIR spectroscopy to screen for bioactive phytocompounds present in ethanol and methanol extracts of U. lobata .The leaves of the plant were collected from a farm in Umuode village in Osisioma Ngwa local government area of Abia state, Nigeria. Ethanol and methanol extracts of the leaves were prepared and analyzed using Buck M910 Gas chromatography system with HP-5MS column (30m in length x250µm in diameter x 0.25µm in thickness film). Analysis of functional groups in the phytocompounds were done using Buck scientific M530 USA FTIR.12 vibrational functional groups were revealed by the FTIR screening in the ethanol and methanol extracts of U. lobata leaves. Some of the functional groups were indicative of alcohols, phenols, aromatic compounds, unsaturated hydrocarbons, vinyl ethers, amines, isonitriles and aliphatic compounds. GC-MS analysis of the ethanol leaf extract revealed 41 bioactive compounds with the following being most abundant, 9-octadecenoic acid(16.8%), dodecenoic acid(13.43%),n-hexadecanoic acid(11.73%), octadecanoic acid (9.78%), 1-docosene(9.57%) while  the methanol extract revealed 47 bioactive compounds with the following  having the highest abundance, n-hexadecanoic acid (26.65%) and (9.11%), dodecanoic acid(6.89%), 1-docosene(6.06%), erucic acid(4.09%).These phytocompounds and many others present in the leaf have been reported to possess multiple therapeutic activities. This therefore explains the use of this leaf in ancient medicine to treat numerous disease conditions. It further implies that the leaf could be exploited for the formulation of therapeutic molecules. Keywords: Urena lobata, GC-MS, FTIR, Spectroscopy, Phytocompounds, Functional group, Phytoconstituent