Abstract:
Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge, and beliefs that
combine plant, animal, and mineral medicines used alone or in combination to treat, diagnose,
and prevent disease or maintain health. However, the misuse of these traditional medicines
results in overdose, unknown use of suspect or counterfeit herbal medication, toxic
concentrations in traditional medication therapies, and unintentional injuries caused by
unqualified practitioners. Leucas deflexa Hook f. is one of the most common plant species used
to treat eye remedies, diarrhea dysentery, bacterial, fungal, and viral infections. However, the
to best of our information there is no report about phytochemical screening, spectroscopic
characterization, and antimicrobial activity on plant leaves.
This study aims to test the phytochemical constituents and characterization of Leucas deflexa
Hook leaf extract. f. using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Fourier Transform
Infrared spectroscopy, and Principal Component Analysis. Various extracts of petroleum ether,
chloroform, acetone, and methanol have been prepared from the leaves based on the polarity
of the solvent using the maceration method. The disc diffusion method was used to evaluate
the antibacterial activities of extracts against four bacterial strains.
The results of the qualitative phytochemical screening and UV-Vis spectroscopy analysis
revealed the presence of essential metabolites, including alkaloids, saponins, steroids, and
terpenoids. The FTIR results also indicate the presence of alkanes, alcohols, carbonyl group,
carboxylic acids, aromatic, amines, and phenols in different Leucas deflexa hook f extracts.
The chloroform, Petroleum ether, and methanol extracts showed good antibacterial activity
against Staphylococcus auras and Escherichia coli with inhibition zones of 7-13mm, while that
of ciprofloxacin is 15-17mm. PCA analysis of FTIR accounted for 99.99% of the variance in
the data representation.
The molecular structures revealed through our experimental results indicate the potential use
of the plant for possible antibacterial agent development, mainly to produce synthetically
improved therapeutic agents. The bioactivity results from the leaves of Leucas deflexa Hook.
f. provides scientific justification for the traditional medicinal uses of this ethno-remedy, which
is an essential step towards its acceptance and development as an alternative therapeutic agent.
