PHYTOCHEMICAL CONTENTS, GC-MS PROFILE AND ALPHA-AMYLASE INHIBITORY POTENTIAL OF Rauwolfia vomitoria n-HEXANE ROOT EXTRACT

Rauwolfia vomitoria is a tropical medicinal plant that has been used traditionally in the management of several diseases. In this study, the phytocontents and the preliminary alpha-amylase inhibitory activity of the n-hexane extracts of R. vomitoria was investigated. The dried plant material, R. vomitoria root was extracted by macerating in n-hexane for 72 h. The phytochemical screening and quantity of the alkaloids, flavonoid, and saponins in the extract and plant materials was determined using standard methods. The Preliminary alpha amylase inhibitory activity of the extract was carried out using starch iodide reagent assay. The phytochemical contents of the root extract were determined out using Gas Chromatography and Mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS). The extraction of R. vomitoria yielded 2.30% n-Hexane extract. The phytochemical screening of the extract shows the presence of alkaloid, flavonoid, saponins, reducing sugar, de-oxy sugars and steroids while quantitative phytochemical analysis showed the root contain alkaloids: 11.2±0.06, flavonoids: 16.6 ±0.12 and saponins: 14.8 ±0.18. The extract gave a positive alpha-amylase inhibitory activity. The GC-MS indicated the presence of twelve compounds, which are basically long chain fatty acids and esters and the most abundant compound is n-Hexadecanoic acid. Most of the compounds detected have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic and enzyme inhibitory activities which may explain the various traditional uses of this plant and the observed alpha-amylase inhibitory activity