Phytochemical Screening, Ftir and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy Analysis of Methanol Extract of a Polyherbal Mixture

Abstract

Background: Secondary metabolites are naturally occurring substances produced by plants that exhibit a variety of biologi-cal functions. This study aimed to identify the phytochemicals and functional groups present in a polyherbal mixture com-posed of Ageratum conyzoides leaves, Xylopia aethiopica fruit, Lepidium meyenii roots, and Hunteria umbellata seeds. Methods: The plant materials were collected, ground together, air-dried, and then pulverized into a fine powder. A total of 500 grams of the polyherbal mixture was soaked using methanol as the solvent. The extract was filtered and then subjected to dryness. A preliminary phytochemical screening was done to identify the phytochemicals, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spec-troscopy was used to determine the bioactive constituents of the methanol extract of the polyherbal mixture and Fourier transform infrared was used to detect the functional groups. Results: The phytochemical screening of the extract revealed the presence of bioactive constituents, flavonoids, saponins, steroids, tannins, and phenols. The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of 117 bioactive compounds some of which in-clude Doconexent, 4-Tetradecene, (E)-, Phenanthrenol, 4-Dibenzofuranamine, Alloaromadendrene oxide-(2) and Kauran-18-al, 17-(acetyloxy)-, (4 beta.)-, which can be used to develop a wide range of traditional medicine. FTIR analyses revealed the presence of hydroxyl, carboxylic, thiol, isothiocyanate, imino, and disulfide groups with primary and secondary amine. Conclusion: The numerous pharmacological potentials of the identified compounds and groups indicate that this polyherbal mixture could be recommended for some treatments such as an anti-cancer, anti- inflammatory and anti-microbial. It can therefore be concluded that the presence of the phytocompounds present in this polyherbal makes it open for further scientific scrutiny