Phytochemical Evaluation and Functional Group Detection of Ethanolic Leaf and Root Extracts of datura metel

Abstract

Datura metel is a plant with various medicinal parts. This work gears towards the phytochemical evaluation, identification and functional group detection of ethanolic leaf and roots extracts of Datura metel. Gas Chromatography-Mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier –Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analytical instruments were used for studies. The preliminary phytochemical evaluation of plant parts revealed presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tanins and terpenes. The chromatogram result for the Gas Chromatography- Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS), detected 30 bioactive compounds with high percentage composition and molecular weights. Thiophene, 2,3-dehydro, an isomer of dehydrothiophene (C₄H₆HS) had the least retention time and highest percentage composition of 38.914% for the root extracts while 2-methyl-3-thiosemicarbazide (C₂H₇N₃S) and Benzene hexanenitirle, dimethyl-ℇ-oxo (C₁₄H₁₇HNO) both had the highest percentage composition for the leaf extracts. The chromatogram result for Fourier –transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that alkenes (=C-H) and carbon tetrachloride (C-CL₄) had the highest and least wavelengths for both extracts respectively. The presence of bioactives detected and identified in this study, showed that plants may serve as reservoir for biologically active compounds and hence in addition to its medicinal values can also be used for diverse purposes in the industry.