Determination of Phytochemical Profile and Antioxidant Potential of Ocimum Gratissimum Leaf Extract

Ocimum gratissimum is a popular aromatic plant extensively used in traditional medicine because of its wide range of therapeutic properties, which are attributable to the array of complex phytochemicals present in the plant. The study investigated the phytochemical composition and antioxidant potential in aqueous, ethanolic and acetone leaf extracts. Quantitative phytochemical analysis was carried using standard analytical techniques to determine the total phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins and terpenoids. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to identify the major functional groups present in the extracts. Antioxidant activity was evaluated using the β-carotene-linoleic acid and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays. FTIR analysis revealed characteristic functional groups associated with the bioactive compounds in all the extract. Ethanolic extract exhibited the highest flavonoid (147.24 mg QE/g), alkaloid (5.87 mg atropine/g) and terpenoid (158.81 mg linalool/g) contents. Acetone extract showed the highest total phenolic (34.25 mg GAE/g) and saponin (65.85 mg EE/g) contents, whereas the Aqueous extract contained considerable quantities of the tested phytochemicals, 30.06±0.00(mg GAE/g), 65.93±0.01(mg QE/g), 2.06±0.02(mg Atropine /g), 48.27±0.03(mg EE/g) and 134.62±0.02(mg linalool/g) phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins and terpenoids respectively. Both antioxidant assays demonstrated concentration-dependent free radical scavenging activity in the three extracts, with the DPPH assay showing stronger activity (with IC50 = 5.33, 7.5 and 11.08µg/mL) than the β-carotene-linoleic acid assay (IC50 =9.77, 11.39 and 13.92µg/mL) for Ethanolic, Acetone and Aqueous extracts respectively. The findings showed that O. gratissimum leaves are rich in bioactive secondary metabolites with significant antioxidant potential, supporting their traditional medicinal use and highlighting their potential as a natural source of antioxidant compounds for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications.

Antioxidant; Extract; FTIR; Phytochemicals; Ocimum gratissimum; DPPH

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