Phytochemical Screening And Analysis Of Antioxidant Activity From The Botanical Extract Of The Plant Leonotis nepetifolia

Background and Aim: With the vast potential in natural drugs with minimal side effects, medicinal plants have very much promise as enriched with powerful compounds of nature. In this research, the Leonotis nepetifolia plant species, which has great medicinal potential, is targeted. We sought to determine and measure phytochemicals in its leaf extracts or determine the in vitro antioxidant activity.
Techniques: Extraction was done by using methanol, hexane, and water. The presence and quantity of compounds in the extracts were determined by conducting qualitative and quantitative tests. In order to find out the antioxidant activity, DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and Ion chelating assays were conducted.
Results: Phytochemicals with pharmacological activity identified by qualitative analysis included saponins, fixed oils, alkaloids, amino acids, glycosides, phenols, proteins, carbohydrates, and terpenoids. The most diverse extract was methanolic and aqueous extract that had six distinct compounds. There was a significant difference in phenols (0.52 mg/g) and carbohydrates (11mg/g) in aqueous extract, flavonoids were highest in hexane with 329 mg/g, and protein was highest in aqueous with 56.8 mg/g. Antioxidant studies revealed that aqueous extract performs better with a maximum inhibitory percentage of 73.96, 65.71, 85.07, and 45.73 percent (DPPH, FRAP, ion chelating, and ABTS, respectively), which indicates the presence of an excellent antioxidant potential.
Conclusion: These outcomes highlight importance of Leonotis nepetifolia as a prospective source of phytochemicals that have great antioxidant effects, especially in the aqueous leaf extract, which can be used in further therapeutic applications.