ABSTRACT

Antioxidants or inhibitors of oxidation are compounds which retard or prevent oxidation and in general, prolong the life of the oxidizable matter. This work is aimed at presenting some information about the phytochemical and antioxidant activities of the methanol extracts from the leaves of three medicinal plants (icacina trichantha, baphia nitida and psidium guajava) in an effort to validate the medicinal potential of the plant samples . The plant sample was collected at Ikwuano LGA, milled manually and percolated after 48hours of maceration in 80% methanol. The antioxidant activity of the plants were determined by DPPH, FRAP and nitric oxide assays, which identified that psidium guajava as having the highest scavenging activity while the other two plant samples exhibited lower activity. Also the phytochemical properties that include Tannin, Saponins, Flavonoids, Glycosides and terpenes were analyzed And the result showed P. guaj ava contains high concentration of tannins when compared with the other extracts. The three extracts contain saponins and flavonoids in equal proportion. P. guajava and B. nitida contain equal (high) concentration of glycosides respectively while that of Icacina trichanta Oliv. is present in low concentration. B. nitida and Icacina trichanta Oliv. contain equal (low) concentration of terpenes that of P. guajava is present in moderate concentration. this study has to some extent, validated the medicinal potential of the plant samples.