Comparative phytochemical screening and GC-MS profile of extracts of Justicia carnea

Abstract

Justicia carnea, commonly known as “Brazilian plume or blood leaf,” has traditionally been used in treating and managing different ailments, including inflammation, diabetes, and arthritis. Currently, research about bioactive plant substances found in J. carnea remains incomplete. This study was aimed at characterizing the oil constituents and identify the phyto constituents of the leaves and stem extracts of J. carnea. Thus, J. carnea leaves and stem extracts were obtained via maceration method, using distilled water, ethanol, and n-hexane solvents. Water was the most efficient solvent having a yield of 18.65% for the leaves extract and 20.51% for the stem extract. Ethanol had a yield of 13.49% and 14.56% for the leaves and stem extract respectively while n-hexane, a non-polar solvent yielded 16.40% for the leaves and 16.80% for the stem. Phenolics, reducing sugar and alkaloids were present across all extracts while tannin and steroids were not detected. Detected compounds include 2-hexadecene (Rt: 20.434, 54.78 %) and heneicosane (Rt: 23.270, 11.07%) while the minor constituents were 2-methyloctacosane (Rt: 15.351, 5.77 %), methyl tetracosanoate (Rt: 25.166, 3.83 %) and phytol (Rt: 23.747, 2.10 %). The findings from this research demonstrated that J. carnea represents a promising resource of phytoconstituens required for therapeutic use.