Preliminary screening of phytochemical contents, antioxidant and antibacterial activity of Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.Br collected in the Darrang area of Assam, India

The current study was carried out to investigate the phytochemical contents, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antibacterial activity of Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br. A preliminary phytochemical study was performed using conventional procedures. In crude aqueous, methanol, chloroform, and hexane extracts, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity were measured spectrophotometrically. A well diffusion approach was used to assess in vitro antibacterial activity against seven Microbial Type Culture Collection (MTCC) bacterial species and two MTCC fungus species. Saponin, tannin, flavonoid, phenol, terpenoids, cardiac glycoside, steroid, and alkaloid were found in the preliminary phytochemical study, but not anthraquinone and reducing sugar. The methanol extract fared better than the other extracts. The methanolic extract exhibited clear antibacterial action against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Proteus vulgaris and Penicillium chrysogenum, whereas hexane extract showed modest activity against Penicillium chrysogenum. Using petroleum ether hot extract, petroleum ether showed better antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Penicillium chrysogenum, respectively. The greatest percentages of inhibition for DPPH and ABTS were 82.00±0.000 and 80.50±0.000 percent for methanol extracts, respectively. According to the current study, Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br includes both primary and secondary metabolites, which contribute to its traditional usage as a food and medicinal.