Chemical Analysis of Gnetum africanum roots

Abstract

The use of medicinal plants as complementary therapies has lately grown in popularity. The aim of this study was to determine the chemical composition of the aqueous root extract of Gnetum africanum using GC-MS and GC-FID analysis. Fresh roots of G. africanum Welw used in this study were collected, cut into pieces, washed and air-dried. The dried plant materials were ground into powder and kept in an airtight container. GC-MS analysis of the aqueous root extract revealed 20 bioactive compounds with the following being most abundant 2,3-Butanediol as the predominant phytochemical at 46.02%, followed by Benzene, 1,4-dichloro (3.57%) and Oxalic acid, allyl octadecyl ester (3.45%). The quantitative GC-FID determination of the phytochemicals of Gnetum africanum aqueous root extract presented common phytochemicals such as, alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, phenols and glycosides. Phytochemicals in higher proportions include; sapogenin (26.2645 µg/ml), anthocyanins (17.4986 µg/ml), cyanogenic glycosides (15.3616 µg/ml), kaempferol (13.7621 µg/ml) and flavan-3-ol (13.0446 µg/ml). It has been discovered that the root of Gnetum africanum contains an array of phytocompounds with a variety of therapeutic properties.