Preliminary Phytochemical and Antibacterial Activity Screening of the Leaf Extract of Emilia pratermissa

Abstract

Emilia pratermissa from the family Astereceae is a plant used in African traditional medicine to treat many diseases including diarrhoea and gastric ulcer, Fresh leaves from the plant were extracted using four different solvents including hexane, chloroform, ethanol and distilled water. Phytochemical analysis of the leaf extracts using maceration method showed the presence of alkaloids,  glycosides,  flavonoids, steroids,  saponins, and tannins in ethanol extract, water extract showed these same phytochemicals except steroids, Hexane extract showed the same except saponin and glycoside while chloroform extract showed alkaloid, glycosides, and flavonoids. The antibacterial activity test of chloroform, ethanol, and hexane extracts showed some zones of inhibition against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Alkaloids were further isolated from the leaves with Rf values of 0.43, and 0.87 in ethanol and NH4OH (solvent). The Infrared spectra (FTIR) for the alkaloid showed the presence of OH. N=N, C-0, N-H, C=O attached to the aromatic rings. The efficacy of Emilia pratermissa as a medicinal plant may be due to the presence of these phytochemicals with known therapeutic properties.