Preliminary phytochemical and GC-MS Screening of Ethanol extract of Khaya ivorensis bark, and Flabellaria paniculata and Rhapiostylis beninensis roots

Medicinal plants are important sources for the discovery of new chemotherapeutic agents. This study investigated the phytochemical components of ethanol extracts of the roots of Flabellaria paniculata, Rhapiostylis beninensis, and the bark of Khaya ivorensis. Plant extraction was performed using a cold maceration method with 70% ethanol. Phytochemical screening of extracts was done using qualitative and quantitative assays and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) methods. Steroids, saponins, flavonoids and terpenoids were detected in the extracts of the three plants, while alkaloids and cardiac glycosides were not. In addition, the extracts of K. ivorensis and F. paniculata also contain tannins, phenols and reducing sugar, while phlobatannins were found in the extracts of R. beninensis. The terpenoids and steroid content of the three plant extracts were similar, while the flavonoid content was in the order of K. ivorensis (109mg/100g) >F. paniculata (52mg/100g)> R. beninensis (38mg/100g), respectively. The GC-MS analysis identified 33, 37, and 33 different bioactive compounds from K. ivorensis, F. paniculata, and R. beninensis extracts, respectively. The most abundant compounds in the extracts are linoleic acid ethyl ester (30.76%), (E)-9-octadecanoic acid ethyl ester (17.72%), hexadecanoic acid ethyl ester (17.29%) in K. ivorensis, ethyl oleate (23.46%), hexadecanoic acid ethyl ester (14.55%), octadecenoic acid ethyl ester (26%) in F. paniculata and hexadecanoic methyl ester (19.24%), 9-octadecenoic acid (19.47%) in R. beninensis. The preliminary qualitative, quantitative and GC-MS assays indicated that these plants are promising sources of bioactive compounds that could be investigated for therapeutic purposes.