GC - MS Analysis and Phytochemical Constituents in Anthocleista vogelii and Leuceana leucocephala obtained from Calabar, Cross River State, Southern Nigeria

Most plants contain groups of chemicals known as phytochemicals. These have been directly linked to diverse and beneficial bioactivities. Anthocleista vogelii and Leucaena leucocephala are among the plants documented as containing bioactive compounds. This study aimed at detecting and identifying the phytochemical constituents in A. vogelii and L. leucocephala leaf extracts from Calabar, Cross River State using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) methods. Extraction for GC-MS phytochemical screening of A. vogelii and L. leucocephala was carried out by weighing five (5) g of processed sample into the extraction thimble of a Soxhlet extractor. 50 ml of dimethyl-sulfuroxide was poured into a round bottom flask attached to a Soxhlet extractor, and refluxed three times. Extract was transferred into a Rotary Evaporator and concentrated to 2 ml for phytochemical screening. An Agilent 5890 N Gas Chromatography equipped system with an auto sampler connected to an Agilent Mass Spectrophotometric Detector was used. One (1) µl of sample was injected in the pulsed spitless mode. The column temperature was gradually increased from 55 oC to 300 oC at correspondingly increasing retention time. Identification was based on retention time since each of the active ingredients has a unique retention time in the column. Components with lower retention time were eluted before the ones with a high retention time. Results show the presence of alkaloids, tannins, alcohol, aldehydes, terpenes, ketones and phenols. A major finding showed the presence of seven groups of phytochemicals in both plant extracts. Nine and sixteen volatile/semi-volatile chemical compounds respectively are found in A. vogelii and L. leucocephala. The most abundant compounds were tridecane (21.61%) followed by tetradecane, and Undecane, 2, 6-dimethyl (24.36 %) by tridecane (20.62 %) respectively. These groups of bioactive components have been associated with antimicrobial, insecticidal, anti-inflamatory, antitumor, antidiabetic and cytotoxic activities.