Profound Assessment of Phytochemical, Botanical and Antioxidant Characteristics Including Determination of Total Phenolic and Flavonoid Contents of Stem Bark of Cordia obliqua L.

Cordia obliqua is known as Bumber. Its fruits and leaves are popularly used because of antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the phytochemicals and antioxidant activity as well as botanical features of stem bark of Cordia obliqua. Chemical components were preliminary screened in various fractions based on the polarities including; n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and aqueous fractions of using standard procedures. Total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid (TFC) contents were assessed by Folin-Ciocalteau and aluminium chloride methods respectively. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by ABTS antioxidant procedure, using ascorbic acid as standard. Results confirmed that stem bark of Cordia obliqua chemically is characterized by the presences of flavonoids, alkaloids, steroids, saponins, tannins and carbohydrates at different levels in various fractions and the absence of cardiac glycosides and anthraquinones. Microscopically, the plant is characterized by presence of big Ca oxalate clusters, various types of xylem vessels and big amount of cork cells. TPC was ranged from 13.6±1.4 and 220.5±3.4 mg GAE/g dry plant extract and TFC was ranged from 0.029±0.12and 15.46±0.33 mg QE/g dry plant extract. Due to the high phenolic and flavonoid content in butanol and ethyl acetate fractions; results of antioxidant using ABTS assay showed high antioxidant activity with IC₅0 valued 11.84±1.2 μg/ ml for butanol fraction and 14.81±1.1 μg/ml for ethyl acetate fraction. Taken together, the research work demonstrated the potential natural antioxidant value of the waste product stem bark of Cordia obliqua. The study endorses forthcoming work to isolate and identify the chemical constituents in stem bark of Cordia obliqua.