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Investigate The Pharmaceutical Active Component Of Ethanol Leaf Extract Of Corchorusolitorius

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Medicinal plants are useful for healing as well as for curing of human diseases because of the presence of phytochemical constituents. Phytochemicals are naturally occurring chemical in the medicinal plants, leaves, vegetables and roots that have defense mechanism and protective against various diseases. Chlorophyll, proteins andcommon sugars are included in primary constituents and secondary compounds have terpenoid, alkaloids and phenolic compounds. Terpenoids exhibit variousimportant pharmacological activities i.e., anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-malarial, inhibition of cholesterol synthesis, anti-viral and anti-bacterial activities. Terpenoids are very important inattracting useful mites and fight against herbivorous insects.  Alkaloids are used as anaesthetic agents and are found in medicinal plants.[1]

Phytochemicals are defined as bioactive non-nutrient plant compounds in fruits, vegetables, grains, and other plant foods that have been linked to reducing the risk of major chronic diseases. The word ‘phyto-’ is derived from the Greek phytowhichmeans – plant. The presence of these bioactive components are said to confer the plant with resistance against bacterial, fungal and pesticidal pathogens. These bioactive components are said to be responsible for the antimicrobial effects of plant extracts.The interest in plants with antimicrobial properties has been revived due to current problems associated with the use of antibiotics with the increased prevalence of multidrug resistant (MDR) strains of a number of pathogenic bacteria. [2]

1.1     Statement of Problem          

There is an ever continuous and urgent need to discover new antimicrobial compounds with diverse chemical structures and novel mechanisms of action due to the alarming increase that has been witnessed in the incidence of both new and reemerging infectious diseases. A further concern is the development of resistance to the antibiotics in current clinical use, and the problem of availability and affordability of antibiotics.

1.2 Aim and Objectives

The research tends to investigate the pharmaceutical active component of ethanol leaf extract of Corchorusolitorius so as to identify potential bioactive compounds for drug synthesis.

Objectives

The objectives of the study will be

• To determine phytochemical composition of the leaf using some standard methods.
• To extract the active plant constituents using ethanol
• To investigate the antimicrobial properties of the extract using disc diffusion methods on some isolated micro-organisms
• To compare the antimicrobial activities of the pharmaceuticals active compounds presents in the leaf with some known commercial antibiotic.

1.3     SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

Corchorusolitorius (Ahihara) plant has been widely acclaimed as a potent medicine traditionally therefore is a necessity to prove it scientifically, if it is found to be highly potentit may be incorporated into the health care systems after the necessary toxicity studies have been carried out. This study can afford the possibility of discovering new organic substances that are useful against disease for which suitable cure are not yet known.

1.4     SCOPE OF STUDY

This work is expected to cover

       Collection and identification of the leaf Corchorusolitorius(Ahihara) plant

       Extraction of active compounds in the leaf using ethanol

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