PHYTOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF ANNONA SENEGALENSIS STEM BARK EXTRACTUSING GC-MS A

There is growing awareness in investigating plants used in ethnomedicine so as to correlate their phytochemicals with their biological and therapeutic activities. Medicinal chemistry has developed through the design of drugs via pure synthesis of organic compounds after isolation, structural determination and partial or total synthesis of bioactive phytochemicals. We report the presence of some of the important phytochemical components of composite n-hexane, ethylecetate and methanol extract of Annona senegalensis resolved by GC-MS and their biological activities. These include Flavonoids (34-53 mg/kg) Alkaloids (5.69 mg/kg), Phenols (2.44 mg/kg) Saponins (14.19 mg/kg) Tannins (6.48 mg/kg), Sterols (1.68 mg/kg), Terperioids (7.43 mg/kg). GC-MS analysis indicated the presence of twenty three (23) compounds of which some are Decane Alfa copaene Caryophyllene, Humulene, 1,2,3,4,5,6,8a-Hexahydro-4,7-dimethyl-l-(l-methylethyl) Naphthalene, 2 – Isopropyl-5,5-methyl-9-methylene–Bicyclo [4.4.0] Dec–l–ene, 14–methyl pentadecanoic acid methyl ester, n–Hexadecanoic acid, 10, 13–Octadecenoic acid methyl ester, trans – 13 – octadecenoic acid methyl ester, Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and their bioactive properties include, diluent, antioxidant, antigenotoxic, antimicrobial, antiproliferative, anti inflammatory, antidepressant, anticancer, antianxiety pesticidal, haemolytic. Medicinal agents such as the hypoglycaemics suphoryl urea, diuretics thiazides, and the antianxiety agents benzodiazepines have been uncovered quite adventitiously during such chemical studies preceded by investigation such as this. Further work is therefore needful to evaluate the potency and suitability of these compounds as candidate or lead compounds for drug development.