Phytochemical evaluation and GC-MS profiling of the dichloromethane and ethanol extracts of <i>Ocimum gratissimum</i> L. and <i>Lasianthera Africana</i>. BEAUV

Abstract

The study was designed to investigate the bioactive constituents in the dichloromethane (DCM) and ethanol (ETOH) extracts of Ocimum gratissimum and Lasianthera africana which are commonly used in the treatment of diverse kinds of ailments especially in the southern part of Nigeria. Qualitative phytochemical screening was carried out on the extracts of the plants following documented procedures and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was also conducted comparing the mass spectra of the identified compounds with those of the National Institute of Standards and Technology database library. The preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of secondary metabolites such as saponin, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids and steroids in the extracts of both plants. The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of both aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons as well as the terpenes and fatty acids in the DCM and ETOH extracts of O. gratissimum and L. africana. Some of these compounds are phenol; phytol and phytol acetate; squalene; caryophyllene; carmigrene; vitamin E; hexanedecanoic acid; 9,Octadecanoic acid (Z)-2-hydroxy-1-(hydroxymethyl)ethyl ester; 9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid; 1-heptatriacotanol; tert-butylhydroquinone ; methyl (Z)-5,11,14,17-eicosatetraenoic acid; benzene; decahydro-4a-methyl-1 methyl-7-(1-methyl ethenenyl)-naphthalene. The presence of these multifunctional bioactive compounds in O. gratissimum and L. africana explains the diverse usage of these plants in ethnomedicine.