Evaluation of Phytochemical and In Vitro Antioxidant Activities of Methanol Stem Bark Extract of Detarium microcarpum

This study was designed to evaluate the phytochemical properties and antioxidant properties of the methanol stem bark extract of Detarium microcarpum and its fractions. In the quantitative estimation of phytoconstituents total phenols, alkaloids, tannin, saponin and flavonoids were estimated from the samples. The antioxidant properties of methanol stem bark extract and its fractions were evaluated by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-l-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assays. The qualitative phytochemical analysis shows that alkaloids, terpenoids, reducing sugar, saponins, tannins, flavonoids, phlobatanins, anthraquinones, phenols and cardiac glycoside were found to be present in the samples while the quantitative phytochemical investigation indicated that the level of phenols, flavonoids, tannins and alkaloids in fraction II was higher when compared with methanol extract and fraction I while the level of saponins in methanol extract was high when compared with fraction I and fraction II. FRAP, DPPH and TBARS assay indicate that all the samples (extract and its fractions) inhibited significantly higher antioxidant activity when compared to L-ascorbic acid and the inhibition activity was dose dependent, thus indicating their antioxidant activity. The highest activity was observed in fraction II.