Phytochemical Screening, Chromatographic Evaluation and Antibacterial Activity of the Leaf Extracts of Mitragyna Inermis (Willd)

Mitragyna inermis is a plant used in traditional medicine in Nigeria against bacterial infections, infectious diseases to mention a few. Dried crude methanolic extract of M. inermis leaf was fractionated successively using hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol as solvent systems. The column fractionation yielded eleven fractions (MC1 – MC11) while the thin-layer chromatography yielded six visible bands (MT-1 – MT-6). Antimicrobial activity of the fractions showed that the plant had some inhibitory effect against the test organism. The photochemistry of the eluted fractions showed varied contents of alkaloids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids and glycosides.