IOSR Journal of Pharmacy (IOSRPHR), www.iosrphr.org

IOSR Journal of Pharmacy

Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan-Feb.2012, pp. 062-064

IOSR

PHYTOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF THE LEAVES
OF STERCULIA SETIGERA

HAMIDU, ABUBAKAR AHMED

Chemistry department, adamawa state university, mubi, adamawa state.

ABSTRACT

Many countries of the world particularly Africa are abundantly blessed in terms of plants most of which exist in the wild.
Some of these are consumed as leafy vegetable particularly as source food and as curative therapeutic agent for relieving pain
and curing ailments. Hence the practical need for phytochemically screening these plants and proper characterisation of these
sleeping giants for their utilization as precursors in pharmaceutical related applications. This systematic documented
procedure could serve as useful information sources for drug related applications and facts to buttress the claims by the
traditional forerunners and subsequent comparison of orthodox and traditional systems.

In this regard, Elucidation of the crude drug of STERCULIA SETIGERA, (family: STERCULIACEAE) leaves was carried
out in terms of physico-chemical techniques. Phytochemcial screening showed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolic
and glycosides. The powdered plant subsequent extraction was carried out with methanol. Further analysis was carried out
for quantitative determinations of sugars by TLC. The methanolic extract tested positive for all the phytoconstituents under
the present investigation. TLC analysis of the methanolic extract gave three spots RF values of 0.86 for aglycone and 0.92 for
flavonoidal glycoside (Glycon). Reducing and non reducing sugars were also carried out by hydrolysis. A positive test was
obtained for the presence of reducing and non-reducing sugars.

Keywords: Flavonoidal glycosides, Reducing Sugar, RF values, phytochemical constituents, phytochemical screening.

INTRODUCTION

Many countries of the world, and Africa in particular are abundantly blessed with plants most of which occur in the wild.
Some of these plants are well known medicinal plants with several uses attributed to them. Some of these plants are
consumed as leafy vegetables while some in the traditional society reported through experience inherited from one generation
to another have been reported to have a very useful activity both in traditional and pharmaceutical aspects.

Sterculia setigera is a tree or shrub of upto 40 feet high and 5ft width, deciduous, pale purplish bark, smooth with thin scales
which peel off to expose yellowish patches.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

MATERIALS

The leaves of sterculia setigera were obtained from Dougerei, a settlement right in the heart of Yola, the Adamawa State
capital.

150g of sterculia setigera leaves were dried and ultimately pulverized using an electrical crusher. The powder
formed was stored in a polythene bag until needed for analysis.

METHODS

The methods of Sofowara 1978, 1993 for the presence of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids flavones etc. was adopted for this
investigations.

EXTRACTION PROCEDURE

Using the method of cold extraction as described by Sofowara( 1993).

150g of the leaves was soaked in a round bottom flask using methanol. The conical flask was sealed and kept for
two days i.e. 48 hours. The soaking was to allow the flavonoidal compounds to be absorbed by the solvents.

The soaked leave samples were then well shaken and transferred to a 250ml beaker using filter paper. The filtrate
was dried in Air oven for an hour and the recovered methanol was sequentially used for the same residue. This process was
repeated at least three times.

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IOSR Journal of Pharmacy

Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan-Feb.2012, pp. 062-064

IOSR

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

RESULTS

TABLE .1 -PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF METHANOLIC LEAVE EXTRACT

CLASS OF PHYTOCOMPOUND

INFERENCE

PHENOLICS

+

FLAVONE

+

GLYCOSIDE

+

SAPONIMS

+

PHENOLS

+

TANNINS

+

+ presence of the compounds
Absence of the compounds

TABLE. II- REDUCING AND NON-REDUCING SUGAR

SUGAR

LEAVE

Reducing Sugar
Non-reducing Sugar

Positive
Positive

TABLE .III - THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF STERCULIA SETIGERA (LEAVES)

Sample

Developing System

Visualization
reaction

No. of
spots

RF Value

Methanol Extract
(glycoside)

Chloroform: Ethanol: water
(113.5:1.8:35.5)

Iodine

1

0.92

Methanolic
Extract Aglycen

Butanol: Ethanol: water
(10:3.5:1.8)

Iodine

2

0.86

TABLE IV - ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEAVES

PARAMETERS

INFERENCE

COLOUR

GREEN

Texture

Smooth, powdery

Taste

Bitter

Odour

Mild

Moisture

45%

Ash content

14.06%

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63 I P a g e

IOSR Journal of Pharmacy

Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan-Feb.2012, pp. 062-064

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DISCUSSION

The phytochemical screening for all the chemical constituents under consideration for this investigation showed positive
results for all the phytoconstituents in the leaves of sterculia setigera which is in line with the works of (Adebajo et al,1983)
whose works reported the presence of tannin, glycosides, alkaloide sapanonins and polyphenols. The is shown in Table 1.

The test carried out to ascertain the presence of reducing and non -reducing sugars tested positive for both reducing and non-
reducing sugars which is in line with the work of (Safowara,1993) and this is shown in Table II.

TLC analysis for the presence of glycoside and aglycon showed positive result with RF value of 0.92 and 0.86 respectively.
This is shown in Table III.

More so the active ingredients that tested positive in this investigations is in line with studies (Okolo,1987) which have
shown that antimicrobial properties of vegetables and other plants are dependent on certain active substances which included
glycosides, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, flavonoids and various other oils. These serve as starting materials for the synthesis
for production of new drugs today.

The organoleptic characteristic of the leave is shown in Table IV. This shows that the leaves have edible properties and may
be incorporated into animal feeds.

CONCLUSION

The presence of phytoconstitents goes a long way to show that the leaves of sterculia setigera have great potentials as
suppliers of vital ingredients and starting materials for drug synthesis or production. However, further studies can be carried
out on the antimicrobial activities and structural Elucidations by complimentary instrumental analysis such as NMR, Mass
spectroscopy, so as to ascertain the active components and chemical moieties responsible for their chemical activities.

REFERENCES

1. Ajibota A. O. (2004); Essential Medicinal Chemistry Shanesen C. I. Limited Ibadan, Nigeria.

2. Adebajo A. O, Adewumi, CO and Essein E.E. (1983). Anti-Infective agents of higher plants Symposium of Medicinal

plants 5 th edition University of Ife, Nigeria Pp. 152, 158.

3. Nigerian Tress by R.W.J. Kecy, Vol. II, 200-231, (1960).

4. Odebiyi and A. E. Sofowara (1978) Phytochemical Screening of Nigerian Plants, Iloydia 4,1,3, 234-236.

5. Okolo, J. O. (1987). Strategies for Enhancement and Utilization potentials of Edible Woody Forestry species of African
plants, FLJG Vander Macsen et al, Pub Kluwar, Netherlands Pp. 64-105.

6. Sofowara A. (1993) Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa Chichester John, Vuley and Sons, New York
p. 256.

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