Developmental Botanic: A Case Study on Chromatographic Determination of Phytocompounds in the Roots of Anthocleista nobilis (G. Don.) as Pro-fertility

Abstract

Medicinal plants have great importance in African medicine and are also used as precursors in drug discovery. The medicinal value of plants lies in their bioactive constituents which usually allow them to act as remedy in several ailments. Plant-based natural constituents can be derived from any part of the plant like roots, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds. The present study is designed determining phytocompounds present in Anthocleista nobilis root as pro-fertility, and its validation by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. GC-MS analysis of the methanol extract of A. nobilis root was performed using a Perkin Elmer GC Clarus 500 system comprising an Agilent technologies 5975 MSD model detector and a gas chromatograph interfaced to a mass spectrometer with the aid of the Turbo mass 5.0 software. The study results of the GC-MS analysis provided different phytochemical compounds possessing several biological activities such as dietary, antioxidant, anti-cardiac disorder, antimicrobial, antifungal, anticancer, anti-inflammatory activities etc. This study, therefore, showed that root of Anthocleista nobilis is source of biologically active metabolites. Furthermore, root extract revealed the presence of diverse chemical constituents. The experimental findings of this study justify the use of Anthocleista nobilis in ethno-medicine, and suggest a recommendation of A. nobilis root as a plant of dietary and phytotherapeutic importance.