Phytochemical Screening and Quantitative Determination of Phytochemicals in Leaf Extracts of Hannoa undulata

Medicinal plants form an important component of flora and are widely distributed in the world. The pharmacological evaluation of substances from plants is an established method for the identification of lead compounds which can result to the development of novel and safe medicinal agents. Medicinal plants are composed of some certain organic compounds called phytochemicals which produce definite physiological actions in the human body and these bioactive substances include but are not limited to tannins, alkaloids, terpenoids, steroids and flavonoids (Edoega et al., 2005). The development of pharmaceutical products necessitates an exhaustive investigation of medicinal plants to improve our knowledge about their biological activities and the phytoconstituents responsible for them Furthermore, the need for comprehensive investigations in this area is more evident owing to the fact that only a limited number of medicinal plant species have received complete scientific inspection Hannoaundulata belongs to the family simaroubaceae. Hannoaundulata is locally known as "Gbur" in the Tiv dialect of Benue State It is used as a cure for various ailments in this area. Air dried roots bark are used for treating stomach ache and the bark and leaves for jaundice and malaria. The leaves are very coriaceous (leathery), obovate and are narrowed or cuneate at the base. It is a fast growing plant and usually grows up to 6-8 meters tall. It has a woody bark that is longitudinally fissured. Prot and Kornprobst reported in 1985 that quassinoid fractions extracted from the seeds of H. undulataprevented the penetration of juveniles of meloidogynejavanicainto tomato roots. According to the report, full inhibition of penetration occurred during three days of continuous exposure to a 5 ppm quassinoid solution in the soil water. Quassinoids are highly oxygenated triterpenes which have attracted much attention because of their wide spectrum of biological activities.