Volume Volume V 13 / Issue 2 - September 2021

Isolation of a Pentacyclic Triterpene from n-hexane extract of Abrus precatorius Linn leaves

*1 R. Adamu, 1L. G Hassan, 1A. I Tsafe, 2K. Abubakar, 3A. J. Yusuf, 4H. E. Mshelia, 1Z. I. S/G Adiya and 5M. Mahdi-Adamu

1 Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. 2 Department of Pharmacolog y and Toxicology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. 3 Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. 4 Department of Pharmacognosy and Ethnopharmacy, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. 5 Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aleiro.

September, 2021

ABSTRACT

Abrus precatorius is widely used as traditional medicine for treatment of various ailments. The leaves were investigated with the aim of evaluating phytochemical properties with a view to determining its suitability for medicinal use(s). The results showed that the leaves contain phenols (1.57 + 0.07; 3.12 + 0.33; 7.49 + 0.03), saponins (0.01 + 0.01; 0.01 + 0.01; 0.02 + 0.02), alkaloid (0.80 + 0.20; 0.93 + 0.31; 1.27 + 0.11), glycosides (0.50 + 0.02; 6.05 + 0.18; 5.85 + 5.02), flavonoids (0.60 + 0.01; 2.19 + 1.90; 3.42 + 0.43) and steroids (12.53 + 0.22; 36.04 + 1.73; 50.62 + 2.87) mg/100 g n-hexane, ethylacetate and ethanol extracts respectively. The leaves were subjected to sequential extraction with solvents of increasing polarity from n-hexane, ethylacetate and ethanol to obtain crude extracts. These went through thin layer chromatography where the n-hexane extracts gave the best TLC profile. The n-hexane extract was gradiently eluted in a silica gel column that led to the isolation of an orange solid (R1) subjected to spectroscopic techniques (NMR and FTIR). The isolated compound was identified as (3β)-3- formylphenoxyoleane)-12-en-28-oic acid. In general, results showed the plant leaf contains phytochemicals which could be exploited for drug discovery