PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIBACTERIAL ANALYSIS OF NAUCLEA LATIFOLIA LEAVES EXTRACT

ABSTRACT Nauclea Latifolia are highly valued content of some part of Kaduna south, Nigerian which are mostly used as food and medicine in some areas due to their nutritional and medicinal value. This study identified the various chemical compounds present in the leaves extract of Nauclea Latifolia found in Kaduna state region and also evaluated its antibacterial active agent (compound) for the possibility of using them in the development of new antibiotics to reduce cost of health care and mortality rate due to resistance of bacteria to already developed drugs. The Nauclea Latifolia leaves was found to have a percentage moisture content of 73.28 %. Cool extraction method was adopted to extract the leaves of the Nauclea Latifolia using ethanol and also standard methods were used to assess the antibacterial activity of the extracts. The mass of the extract obtained from solvent extraction of Nauclea Latifolia leaves was 6.32 g with a percentage yield of 14.48 %. The result of the extraction revealed that Nauclea Latifolia leaves consists of polar compounds. The phytochemical screening of the leaves extracts revealed the presence of saponins, steroids, tannins, flavonoids, cardiac glycoside, protein, phenols, carbohydtaes and anthraquinones while alkaloids were not detected. The results of the antibacterial studies revealed that the fractions has activity on the selected bacteria strain (S. aureus, E. coli ,Salmonella and B.subtilis) with zone of inhibition that ranges between 1-20 mm. This results shows that the leaves of Nauclea Latifolia has a potential for the development of new antibiotic drugs.