Imah-Harry JU¹*, Obinna PM² and Alor OO³

¹Department of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Precious,
Cornerstone University, Ibadan, Nigeria
²Laboratories for Biomembrane Research and Biotechnology Department of
Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
³Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of
Ibadan, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Imah-Harry JU, Department of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Precious, Cornerstone University, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Received: January 23, 2026 Published: March 27, 2026

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been the cornerstone in folklore medicine practices since Neolithic, providing a wealth of magic molecules with therapeutic properties, in the prevention and management of various health conditions. Sarcocephalus latifolius (Sm.) E.A. Bruce (SL) is used in folkloric medicine for the treatment of a number of ailments including malaria, CVDs, cancer amongst others, however, this assertion is not supported by empirical evidence. The study assessed the phytochemical composition and antimicrobial activities of the solvent fractions of the fruits and stem bark of SL. These plant parts were harvested, washed, air-dried, pulverised and soaked in 100% methanol to obtain the crude methanol extracts (CMESL and CMESBSL). These were partitioned successively between n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol to obtain their respective fractions, N-hexane (HFSL and HFSBSL), chloroform (CFSL and CFSBSL), ethyl acetate (EFSL and EFSBSL), and the methanol (MFSL and MFSBSL). These extracts and fractions were subjected to qualitative and quantitative assays to evaluate their phytochemical composition and antimicrobial profile was done using typed bacteria and fungi strains. The solvent fractions obtained from the fruit and stem bark of Sarcocephalus latifolius were evaluated for their growth-inhibitory effects against Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, and fungal species using the agar cup diffusion technique. Results of the phytochemical screening revealed that both fruit and stem bark extracts are phytochemical rich containing flavonoids, alkaloids, saponnins among others. It was observed that both crude and solvent fractions of the fruits and stem bark exhibited great bactericidal and fungicidal activity. For the minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) and Minimum bactericidal/ fungicidal concentration (MBC/ MFC) results, there seemed to be a synergistic activity between CFSL and EFSL, but CFSL revealed a higher antimicrobial potency. In conclusion, this validates the use of SL in traditional medicine and it might contain bioactive compounds that are rich sources of phytochemicals and antimicrobial agents.

Keywords: Medicinal Plants; Sarcocephalus latifolius; Phytochemical; Antimicrobial; Minimum Inhibition Concentration; Minimum Bacteriocidal Concentration

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Citation

Citation: Imah-Harry JU., et al. “The Phytochemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activities of the Solvent Fractions of the Fruits and Stem Bark of Sarcocephalus latifolius (Sm.) E.A. Bruce". Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences 10.4 (2026): 25-40.

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Copyright: © 2026 Imah-Harry JU., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.