Choice of Solvent for Effective Extraction of Phytochemical Components in Medicinal Plant Leaves
The use of plant materials as natural source in the discovery and development of active compounds in drug formulation is receiving increased attention particularly in Africa because of ease of availability and access, and interest in natural drug products. Moringa oleifera is one of such popular medicinal plants with a wide range of therapeutic properties. However, identifying the most appropriate phytochemical bioactive components extraction solvents that will provide maximum yield from the plant materials poses a challenge. This study investigated the affinity of a choice of seven solvents in the extraction of bioactive compounds from Moringa oleifera leaves extract. The leaves were plucked, washed, air dried and grounded. The grounded Moringa oleifera leaves were soaked into the different extraction solvents including Aqueous, Ethanol, Methanol, n-Hexane, Acetone, hydroethanol and hydromethanol. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analysis were carried out on the solvents using standard methods of analyses. Moringa Oleifera leaves extract was found to contain alkaloids, saponin, tannin, phenol, flavonoids, glycoside, steroids, anthraquinone, anthrocyanin. In both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the Moringa oleifera leaves extract, ethanol was found to be the best solvent of choice as it had the highest extraction affinity and the highest percentage of yields for both lipophilic and hydrophilic phytochemical components of the Moringa oleifera plant leaf extract when compared with the other solvents
Key Words: Moringa oleifera, leaves, phytochemicals, solvents