Mass spectroscopic and phytochemical screening of phenolic compounds in the leaf extract of Senna alata (L.) Roxb. (Fabales: Fabaceae)

Senna alata (L.) Roxb. (Fabales: Fabaceae) is a medicinal plant basically used as antifungal and sometimes as antibacterial. Local people believe it is the amount of the plant consumed that constitutes to its potency, other believe it is the incantation thereby disregarding the bioactive components present in the leaf of S. alata. Therefore, there is a need to examine this claim by examining the bioactive components that are present in the plant. The methanolic and ethanolic extracts were obtained using soxhlet apparatus and the concentrated extracts were purified using column chromatography; the fractions were eluted and screened for their phytochemical and the mass spectroscopic analysis was performed using a mass spectrophotometer. The antimicrobial activity was carried out using agar disc diffusion method. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of important secondary metabolites such as anthraquinone, flavonoid and saponins while steroids was absent in the leaf extracts. The molecular ions of 250, 250, and 222 were obtained from the mass spectra. This showed the presence of methaqualone, cinnamic acid and isoquinoline. Ethanolic extracts showed a higher antimicrobial activity when compared with the methanolic extracts but less activity when compared with the standard used (amoxicillin). It could be concluded that the presence of these phytochemicals could be responsible for the observed antifungal and antibacterial activities on the susceptible organisms studied of the plant and also can be a natural source of antimicrobial substances of high importance.