A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF SOLVENTS ON THE PHYTOCHEMICAL PROFILE AND BIOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF ORMOCARPUM COCHINCHINENSE AUCT. NON (LOUR.) MERRILL

摘要

Objective: Plants contain different classes of phytochemicals which have different levels of solubility in solvents, based on their polarity. Hence, this study aims to compare the effects of various solvents on the phytochemical profile and biological potential of Ormocarpum cochinchinense . The present study is the first to evaluate the antifungal activity of the plant. Methods: The sequential extraction was carried out using two sets of solvent systems namely hexane, ethyl acetate, ethanol and chloroform, acetone, methanol. The extracts were subjected to standard phytochemical analysis, antimicrobial activity by disc diffusion method against eight bacteria and six fungi and antioxidant activity by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Results: Varied range of phytochemicals was found in the extracts. Acetone extract was rich in phenolic compounds, whereas terpenoids were extracted only in methanol. Acetone extracts showed highest antibacterial activity with a maximum zone of 14.5 mm against Shigella flexineri whereas ethyl acetate extract showed the best antifungal activity with the highest zone of inhibition of 12 mm against Trichophyton menta agrophytes. Hexane and chloroform extracts did not show any antimicrobial activity. For DPPH assay, the ethanol extracts showed the highest percentage inhibition of 92.87%. Conclusion: The present investigation on the plant O. cochinchinense has proved that the selection of solvent for extraction should be based on the target compounds and their bioactivity and concludes that acetone was the best for the extraction of antibacterial compounds and ethyl acetate for antifungal compounds whereas, ethanol was the best for extracting antioxidant compounds in O. cochinchinense.